The Path of Broken Souls
by Kaigetsu
Summary: It's been 4 yrs since the Vesper Incident.But the five branches are now united and wish to get rid of them forever. In the midst of this Natalie questions her life. But she isn't the only one; as Dan and her share one thing in common: they're both broken
1. Chap 1: The Thoughts I Hide

**Hello fellow readers! I'll make this short, this story is part of a multiverse project that I've decided to undertake. So this isn't the only story that will occur. I hope you enjoy my work and can supply me with any ideas for future plots that you want to read. Thanks!**

**Summary: It's been three years since the Vespers Incident. The victims were rescued but the Vespers weren't completely destroyed. Now that the five branches are united, the Vespers better watch out. In the midst of all of this Natalie Kabra questions her existence, her soul deeply crushed by her past. However, she isn't the only one: Dan Cahill, now shunned by most of the family, except by the original hunters, is also in the same boat as her. Just when they thought they were from two different galaxies, they're shared pain brings them together. But what does this entail? All that lies ahead of them is the path of the broken souls.  
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**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTER OF THE 39 CLUES UNIVERSE. ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN AND AFFILIATED AUTHORS!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: The Thoughts I Hide<strong>

**Somewhere in the London Metropolis, precisely 2:00 am.**

Cold sweat broke out on Natalie, as adrenaline rushed through her body.

'Great, as if this jumpsuit isn't uncomfortable enough' she thought, irritated. 'Now's not the time, Natalie!' she quickly admonished herself. She rhythmically clenched and unclenched her hands and inhaled deep, waking up her body for her mission.

"Are you having an asthma attack?" an amused voice quipped in her ears. A vein throbbed in her head, and Natalie pressed the clear earpiece that covered her ear and snapped back.

"I'd like to see you try to break into one of the largest bases of the Vesper Network without shitting yourself, Starling!"

"Nah, I think I'll take a rain check, but hey I have bollocks take them down if they ever broke into our base"

"Bollocks? What bollocks? Oh my, I didn't know you had any to begin with"

The other side radio of the radio was now filled with two voices, one laughing and the other one grunting in displeasure.

"And Ms. Prim and Proper wins again. You shouldn't have annoyed her, Ned."

"Can it, Ted!"

"If you juveniles are done bickering, I'd like to make sure that the building security is dampened, so I can get in and out without finding myself in the afterlife!"

"Don't worry, all security has been dampened, courtesy of the Infiltrator who's been feeding us information since three months ago," said Ted

"So you can go in and come out without any bloody messes or dismembered appendages, yay!" said Ned, gleefully.

"Well, that's good Ned, because when I come back, I'm going make a bloody mess when I dismember you!"

Before the offended Starling could retaliate, another voice joined in, this one a deep baritone.

"Will you guy stop irritating her, you're supposed to be twenty years old, not twelve."

"Jonah, just because you can legally drink and gamble since two days ago, doesn't mean that you can act like you're forty years older than us" said Ned, while his brother agreed with a 'yup'.

"Can we focus on the mission!" snapped Natalie. 'Of all the people I had to be teamed with.' She then turned her question to Jonah.

"Are you ready?"

"Affirmative; I've secured my position, all systems are ready to go, and when Thing One and Thing Two send me the signal, I'll fly the copter to the roof and you and our Infiltrator agent can hop on board we'll live happily ever after"

None of the words struck a chord in her except for the last four. 'Live happily ever after…what a lie. There's no such thing for me' she thought bitterly. But she quickly steeled her mind 'Focus damn it, keep counting the 'ifs' in your life and you soon won't have a life to live!'

Natalie inhaled and exhaled once more. "Jonah, are you sure you can't tell us who the Infiltrator agent is?"

"Sorry, Janus law. We can't tell others branches of our agents while they're in the middle of a mission; it's too delicate of a situation.

"Had to ask Jonah"

Jonah sensed the subtle layer of doubt and fear in the seventeen year old's voice. "Don't fret, Natalie. She'll definitely meet up with you inside. And she's really good at crowd control, so in case you have to fight, you'll have some back-up"

"I'll take your word for it" Natalie checked the built in watch in her sleek, black jumpsuit. I read 2:05 am. It was time to break in.

"Any other reminders?" she asked Ned and Ted.

"The security of the building is dampened by an EMP of sorts. It encompasses the structure like a dome, but it's very delicate. Because of its nature, any outside signals sent in will disrupt and dissolve the dampener, possible causing the security to go into panic mode." Said Ned.

"However, signals sent from the inside out won't disrupt it, so you only can initiate conversations with us." Ted followed up. "The only way we can talk to you is only if you keep your radio channel open when you talk to us, got it?"

"Loud and clear"

Natalie did one last and quick survey across the dark alley in which she was hidden. Stepping out into the light of the road, she quickly looked for oncoming vehicles. The roads were empty. She quickly and quietly ran across the street to the huge skyscraper in front. The building was in the southern end of the London metropolis; Williams and Stonecash Investors, it was called. Suspected to be a possible major financial string in the Vesper Network, the Supreme Council of the Cahill family (or SC) charged the Janus branch to infiltrate: They were the ideal choice, as Infiltration was one of many unique talents of the Janus. The agent was there for three months posing as a janitor giving her access to many floors allowing her to feed the SC a plethora of information, but none of it ever pointing to Vesper activity.

But that all changed within two months, when she was 'cleaning' the eighty-third floor in the high-rise, she overheard a secret conversation between some of the executive members of the company. Upon hearing the words 'Cahills', 'vengeance' and 'Vesper One' being tossed around, she listened in and send the information over to the Janus HQ, from where info was directly sent to the SC. After a much considered discussion, it was decided that the Ekaterina, and Lucian braches would coordinate with the Janus in the retrieval mission. Considering the important and delicate nature of this mission they were dealing with, it was decided that each branch involved had to balance between picking the most talented of agents and picking agents who would work best with each other. The Starling siblings minus Sinead were chosen from the Ekats, and Jonah as the leader and intermediary between the Infiltrator and the rest of the team. He also threw a monkey wrench into the Lucian's choice by specifically requesting Natalie. The Lucians were going to pick an agent more oriented to Breaking and Entering or Espionage, but Jonah stated that Natalie and the Infiltrator would work well in case they had to fight their way out. It's not that Natalie wasn't a talented agent; after all she was mostly on par with a B-Class agent when she was eleven. And despite becoming an A-Class agent three years ago, the seventeen year old still felt much more comfortable in the Assassination department. But she was chosen for a reason, and after a month's worth of intense training and planning the retrieval mission was ready to be carried out.

Natalie had reached the front of the building. It was much taller up front, a titan made of cement, steel and glass, whose eighty-three floor height seemed to pierce the sky above. She saw her reflection on the glass, and a young adult started at her. Her hair was in tight bun, and her amber eyes glowed in the night. Then she jumped onto the glass window and her palms and feet made contact, and she stuck to it. Natalie exhaled. The palms and soles of the suit had micro-hairs that clung to practically anything, and allowed the wearer to scale vertical surfaces.

'Leave to the Ekats to make my life easier.' The jumpsuit she was wearing was black, sleek and incredibly light; it covered her entire body save for the face. It was made by the Ekat Engineers specifically for Breaking and Entering missions. Not only did it muffle her steps, it reduced air drag on her body so she could run further and faster, bulletproof as far as small firearms were concerned, transmitted ultrasonic waves from its built-in boots which allowed Engineers at HQ to build a map of the surroundings up to fifteen feet, and in case she was caught, generated an electric shock with enough voltage to induce a vegetative state, all the while keeping the wearer insulated.

As Natalie pulled her Spiderman act, she felt the wind gently caressing her frame.

'According to the mission files, I need to make to the fiftieth floor, where I'll rendezvous with the agent, help her hack into the computers, sap the information and get out of here'

Natalie skillfully made her way up the building. She stopped and looked down. While this may have bothered a lot of people, it didn't even faze her; she had seen more frightening things in her life.

'I guess all that training paid off,' she thought to herself. She was already fifteen floors up, and it had only taken her seven minutes. She then looked up and started climbing. By the time she reached the thirtieth floor the gentle breeze had turned into a strong wind, and for a moment she thought that it would knock her off the window, but her palms and boots stuck and didn't let go. She continued climbing until she had reached the fiftieth floor. She then began moving her way along the glass, until she found what she was looking for. From afar it might've looked like one of the windows was nice and whole, but Natalie knew better.

'All right, just a small nudge then.' Stretching her hand forward, she pushed her hand on the next window glass. As if it had been hole-punched, a circle of glass fell inside, without breaking. She quickly made her way inside, and saw that the glass had landed on some sort of soft, plush-like material. She sighed.

"Kabra to HQ, I have entered the building" she whispered, as she pressed her earpiece. Then she felt a slight buzzing emanate from the suit.

"HQ to Kabra, affirmative, your suit has been switched from sleep mode to active mode, all systems stable from our side. What about yours?" Asked Ted

"Everything's okay"

"All right, we're on schedule as of now. It only took you thirty minutes, as expected to get up here. Ned's in charge of the sonar map, so let him know if you need a visual. Now you only have an hour before security comes back on"

"Affirmative"

Natalie looked around the floor. It was dark, except for the occasional light fixture on the wall. It was your stereotypical office area with multiple cubicles. Natalie ran quietly towards the door. She put her ear to it trying to listen for any movement on the other side.

"Kabra here, Ned is there anyone on the other side." She whispered.

Natalie hardly felt the boots of her suit vibrate, as it let loose a burst of ultrasonic waves.

"Negative; there's nothing out of the ordinary in the sonar map."

"Thanks"

The teenage agent opened the door and, just as the Ned said, there's was no one there. She ran to the end of the hallway and took a left and continued running until she stopped in front of a T-section of the building. She took another left, and a few feet in front of her was one of the three elevators in the building. From here she was supposed to take a right and go in the Janitor's Office, where she would rendezvous with the infiltrator.

"Ding!"

Natalie whipped her head towards the sound. Someone was coming up the elevator. It was on the forty-ninth floor right now! 'WHAT! This place is supposed to be empty!'

"Starlings, we have someone coming up here right now. Ned, I need a scan!"

"Shit, the Infiltrator said that this place would be empty. Run!" shouted Ted

"Ding!"

Natalie didn't even have to be told that; she was running down the hallway, trying to reach the turn before the doors opened and someone saw her. She tossed herself on the turn, just as the doors began to open. She landed with a less-than- graceful thud.

"Ned! The scan! NOW!" she hissed into her earpiece. Her boots hummed for a moment.

"Bad news, you have two people who, from the body shape, look like guards, and they're walking your way" Natalie quickly reached back to the small backpack she had, and pulled out her dart gun, already filled with poison.

"I'll take care of-"

"NO! Don't do it. It will take too long to knock them out and they could probably alert more of them. DO NOT ENGAGE!"

Natalie, with dart gun still in hand, ran down the hallway. As she ran, she saw another elevator halfway ahead on the right side of the wall. 'Good, I'll pry it open and climb up to the next floor'

"Ding!"

'Bloody feck! Not this one too!'

This elevator door started opening too. She was stuck; there was probably more than a very good chance that guards would come from that elevator as well. 'Shit! Natalie, looks like you'll have to fight your way out of this one'. She aimed her gun in front of her, waiting for someone to step out.

Natalie was then pulled back sharply. She was pulled into a room, and the door was shut. Natalie struggled to get away but found she couldn't, as her gun was thrown away and she was put into a lock. She found her mouth covered by her right elbow joint. The captor hand's was pressing on the back of her elbow. Her other hand was pressed against her back, also immobilized in the same way. Natalie immediately analyzed the hold: From the elbow down both her hands were free, but their range was severely limited, and she couldn't summon the strength and momentum from her upper arm to break free from the hold either. Her mouth was completely covered, so she couldn't call for help. She couldn't kick back either, due her hand that was pushed into the spine, which prevented from aiming her kick accurately at her captor's lower body. She quickly thought of using the electric shock feature, but that was quickly crushed; the only way to use that feature would be A) contact the Starlings so they could remotely activate it or B) slap both her palms together which completed a circuit in the suit and generated a current.

'Wait, if drop myself straight down I can break this hold and beat the bloody shit out of this idiot'

And so Natalie relaxed her knees…only to find she stopped. The captor had placed one leg between her's preventing her from completely escaping. She was effectively immobilized.

The footsteps outside grew louder and Natalie could feel her heart about to jump out of her chest. She felt helpless

'I'm done for, it's hopeless'

Hopeless. As soon as that thought ran through her head, something in her snapped. Natalie's once calm mind was now a tempest of her most horrifying memories: those low point in her life where there seemed to be no hope, no help. It was continuous mesh of different clips from her life: her father punishing her, with a whip in hand, while she tried to stifle her cries of pain; when she fell of the edge in the Gauntlet, her scream barely audible to her ears as the wind tore around her and ground rushed to meet her; staring at the her mother in disbelief as she pointed the end of the barrel at her and pulled the trigger; the torture the Vespers put her through. It was a torrent, a typhoon, a tsunami of it all.

'NO! NO, NO, NO! I WON'T LET IT END LIKE THIS! IF I AM TO MEET DEATH AT THIS MOMENT, IT SHALL BE ON MY TERMS!' she shouted in her mind, and overwhelmed the dark scenes of her past, shutting them back from where they came. As she hardened herself with her newfound resolve, she found herself thinking about what Isabel once told her. '"Natalie, always remember that there no force more dangerous in this world than a Lucian with nothing to lose"' She chuckled, in spite of herself, at the irony of it all.

She was prepared for the worst, when the footsteps of the guards outside passed the door went down the hallway. Then they stopped

"Did you boys here anything?"

"We thought we heard something drop, but there seems to be nothing here, Boss"

"All right, keep patrolling this floor and then one above and below.

"Yes, Boss"

After a while the footsteps passed.

'What the hell?' Natalie thought to herself. There was the sound of elevators opening and, after a few seconds, closing.

"Ding!" rang the elevator as it headed down. And then her captor relaxed the grip on her elbows, and that was all that she needed. Natalie dove for her gun on the ground in front of her. She grabbed it, and whipped around to shoot her captor. Her finger was ready on the trigger, however, when she saw who her captor was she let her hand drop.

There weren't many things in life that could take Natalie off guard. After all when you're trained to become a weapon and have genetic talents that far surpass the usual Tom, Dick and Harry, having something completely stupefy you beyond reason should hardly ever occur in your life. But Natalie was having one of those moments. Her eyes looked they were going to pop and her jaw had dropped to an un-ladylike extreme.

"Sophie? Is that you?" Natalie sputtered out finally

"In the flesh, dear" said she, trying to hold back a laugh. 'My, my, Natalie's still up and at it, I guess'

Natalie couldn't believe it. Standing before her was none other than her best friend Sophie Watson: beautiful, lithe, long wavy blond hair and cornflower blue eyes. She was originally sent to spy on Natalie at Flynte School, the posh school that catered to the elite and gifted. Despite her Lucian training, Natalie was completely unaware of the Janus spy that had been planted for the three years up until the Clue Hunt. It was due to Sophie spying that the Janus branch was able to get valuable information straight from the Kabras themselves and keep themselves safe and one step ahead of their serpentine relatives. Natalie only found out about her true allegiances after the incident at the Gauntlet, where Sophie offered an olive branch and Natalie accepted it. Ever since then their friendship soon evolved into something akin to sisterhood, exacerbated by the Vesper Incident and peace between the five branches.

'Of course they would send Sophie to be the Infiltrator' Natalie groaned in her head.

"I see you're still full of life and its joys, Natalie" said Sophie, winking at her. She was expecting a snide remark from her best friend; Natalie's sarcasm and snappishness was one of the many idiosyncrasies that endeared to Sophie.

What Sophie did not expect was to have Natalie runs towards her and suffocate her with a hug; it was now her turn to be surprised.

"You have no idea what I've been through. I thought you were gone on that humanitarian trip to Guatamala, where I couldn't contact you at all. And then out of nowhere, I get requested by your boyfriend to join a mission, not that I had a choice any way. But you have-"

"Natalie..."

"- torture they put me through. Never mind the training-"

"Natalie"

"-those idiotic Starling brothers make me want to-"

"NATALIE" Sophie snapped

"What"

Smiling lightly, Sophie hugged her best friend. "I missed you too. Now focus, we have a deadline. We can catch up after the mission"

"Okay then" Natalie pressed her earpiece, "Kabra to Cahill HQ, I have rendezvoused with the Infiltrator"

"So who's the agent?" asked Ted.

"It's none other than our lovely team leader's girlfriend" said Natalie, with as much sarcasm as she could muster at the moment.

"Sophie, huh? Well no wonder, she is one of the best Infiltrator agents that the Janus have. Anyway from here on out you can relax a bit. Sophie already knows the plan; you have around fifty minutes before security comes back online. Also ask her why this place is swarming with guards 'cuz this puts a real damper on our tight schedule" said Ted

"Okay, I shall, thanks"

Natalie then turned to Sophie, who was preparing her gear. She was wearing a black under armor, store bought from the look of it, not the standard agent wear. She had a backpack on her, bigger than Natalie's, but small enough to not hinder her movement. She strapped on a belt that had a sheathed katana on the left side, and covered her hand with combat gloves. And lastly, she took an earpiece and put it on. Pressing it she spoke:

"Sophie, to Jonah: I've met up with Natalie and everything going according to plan so far"

A few seconds passed, and the Jonah's rich, baritone voice rang in her ears.

"Continue as briefed. This mission is of utmost importance so take don't take any risks, understood?"

"Affirmative. Anything else?"

"Hmmm…might I interest milady for an exciting and magical day in Paris, afterword?"

Sophie found herself torn between blushing at Jonah's lust-laced tone, and whacking his head at the bad timing.

"Now's not the time Jonah…."

"Not my fault. It's been three WHOLE months, babe" he whined, and Sophie could practically see him pouting.

"Jonah, heel!"

"Fine, but when you come back, we're going to Paris even if I have to drag you there. Good Luck"

Sophie looked up to see two amber eyes glaring holes into her; Natalie was pissed.

"Are you two lovebirds done?" she spat out, with extra malice when she said the word 'lovebirds'.

As much as Sophie loved her best friend, Natalie's extreme-and almost religious- aversion to romance and PDA among couples is didn't sit right with her. Sophie always had a hunch that this had something to do with what had happened to her in the past few years.

'I'll need to have a talk with her later.'

Shrugging the thought aside, Sophie smiled.

"Yes, yes. Now let's go and screw these Vespers over"

Natalie nodded and opened the door, and the two agents slipped into the hallway and ran towards the building staircase, their footsteps muffled by the carpet.

"Why are there guards here? We were told this place was going to be empty." Natalie asked

"Well that was a month ago. These plonkers have been here for a whole week now, and I think they must've started that new project I heard them talking about way back when." Sophie explained. "I think the heightened security is a sign that the plan's coming on it way in this very building"

"I see, but if you're the Infiltrator, couldn't you get into the system and retrieve the information needed?"

"I tried. Trying to hack into it myself would take too long, and the password needed changes every day. Here's the stairs. We need to head to the sixty-fifth floor, that's where the Executive Committee's and CEO's offices are."

Opening the door, the two girls ran up the stairs quietly, a technique that every agent had to learn before they graduated as a D-Rank agent. Before they even knew it they had reached a door that had the number '65' in large black paint.

"Ned, I need a scan"

Natalie's boots hummed again.

"All's clear as what the map shows"

Natalie nodded at Sophie, and then opened the door, and true to what the sonar map had shown, the coast was clear. Natalie had begun to run, when Sophie grabbed her arm, shaking her head. She pointed at the floor, which was hardwood, instead of the standard carpet they had seen before. Then taking the lead, Sophie quietly stalked forward with Natalie behind her. They stopped at a T in the path. Looking at Natalie, she pointed at her boots.

"Ned" whispered Natalie into her earpiece. She waited a few seconds before she got her reply

"Bad news, you have four guardsmen in front of a door. I'm guessing that must be about ten meters away on your left. You'll have to take them out."

Natalie reached behind, unzipped one of the pockets in her backpack, and took out a small marble-sized sphere. She then jump into the left path of the T, and threw the sphere as hard she could towards the guards.

"Hey! Who the hell-" The guard wasn't able to complete his sentence as the sphere hit the floor in front of him, broke apart, fizzed, and suddenly enveloped him and his three colleagues in white haze. All that could be heard now was the sounds of violent coughing fits and the thuds of falling bodies. In about ten seconds the haze started to dissipate, and all that was left afterword were tiny pieces of the sphere's shell.

Sophie and Natalie made their way to the CEO's office.

"What in bloody hell was that?" Sophie said pointing to the now knocked out guards.

"It's a knockout grenade, standard Lucian issue," explained Natalie. "It consists of a chemical compound that is covered in a shell of calcium fluoride. The shell is weak enough that a small impact will break the sphere apart. The chemical compound inside violently reacts with oxygen and sublimates in a sudden exothermic reaction, creating a cloud of knock-out gas" As soon as she finished, Natalie had picked the lock on the door.

"Sophie, let's bring the guards inside, so any others who patrol by won't suspect that anything"

"On it, You Highness!" said the Janus Infiltrator, with a wide grin. In the meantime, Natalie turned on the lights and took in the sights of the office. It certainly was built for a king: It looked like the Oval Office had clashed with the Queen's private study. The walls were a cream yellow, with portraits and various trophies decorating it. The CEO was a collector of sorts, it seemed, as there were antiques ranging from Ming vases to Egyptian-themed furniture. In the center of the room there was a large, ornate, and hand-carved table with a thirty-six inch monitor on it. She also noticed that the office had no windows.

'So this is why I couldn't just climb all the way up to the sixty-fourth floor. Leave it to the Vespers to make my job harder.'

After Sophie dragged the four guards in and closed the door, Natalie contacted the Starlings

"Kabra to HQ, we're in the CEO's office"

"Good job, and you're still on schedule," answered Ted. " You have less than forty minutes left, so let's not lose time. You remember that USB drive that I gave you before you headed out? Plug it into a port and turn on the computer and let Ned and I take care of things from here. Oh keep the channel open until we're done"

"All right"

Sophie and Natalie walked behind the desk and Natalie did as she was told. The sound of the computer warming up and turning on broke the silence, and soon, a bright blue light filled the room. Then a small screen popped up that requested the password. Natalie and Sophie watched as the flash drive glowed white, and a new screen popped up that read 'Identity confirmed: Welcome'. The screen color glowed white as the desktop appeared.

"Tsk, tsk. I can't believe it was this easy to hack into the computer" said Ned

"I know right! Sinead's digital diary has more security than this!" followed Ted

"So what are you guys up to" said Sophie, now joining the channel as well.

"Well you see that flash drive also acts as a bug that's connected to HQ's M.O.S. (Mainframe Operating System) and operates on its frequency, allowing us to remotely hack into the computer. Your ear piece acts as a channel between the two devices. All right, we've accessed the files, cloning the hardrive." said Ted with glee.

The flash drive glowed white, and the computer hummed louder as it got to work.

"Wait, you're cloning an entire hard drive? Doesn't that exceed the capacity of the flash drive?" asked Sophie, looking at the 256 gigabyte device.

"Yes it does. The flash drive will copy onto it however much it can, and any remaining information will be transmitted to the M.O.S., so it's imperative that you keep you channels open." said Ned.

The entire process took five minutes.

"All right we're done. Give us a minute you guys, we have one last thing to do" asked Ned, and the two girls heard some rapid typing on the other end.

"Okay we're done. Pull out the flash drive, and shut the computer down. Good Luck on your way out. We'll update Jonah. Let us know when you're ready reach the roof so we can give him the signal. You have around thirty-five minutes left" Ted told them.

After doing what they were told, Natalie faced Sophie.

"Let's get you home" said with a short-lived smile

"Yes, let's"

They ran out onto the hallway towards the entrance of the stairwell. Opening the door they ran up quietly. Sophie couldn't help but fantasize about finally leaving the place.

'Home. God I haven't been there in three months. My own warm bed, sleeping in, no physical labor, and…Jonah'

They had just passed the door that led to the seventieth floor, and were running up the next staircase, when Sophie heard the door swing open. The two girls whipped around to see two guards step in and reach their hand behind them.

"NO!" yelled Sophie and she ran forward, grabbed Natalie and pulled her best friend behind her. Just as she'd done that, two guards pulled out their guns and-

"BANG! BANG!"

Two shots rang through the air, and hit the Janus; one on her chest, the other on her stomach.

All Natalie saw and felt was two guards step forward, Sophie yelling, and suddenly being tugged behind. She fell on the step behind Sophie. She was about to get up, when she heard the gunshots, and that was when Natalie's world slowed down.

She didn't just hear that…did she? Natalie looked up and she saw Sophie, her arms outstretched.

'No, they must've missed, she's still standing' she thought nervously, her heart picking up its pace. And then she saw Sophie fall forward, slowly and gracefully. Her arm reached forward, but Natalie found herself slowed down completely, no matter how fast she wanted to reach for her. Sophie's hair formed a halo around her as she fell, like a fallen angel from heaven with its wings cut off, falling with such cruel elegance; just like the rest of the Janus. There was grace and elegance in everything they did, even death it seemed. Natalie's ears registered the dull thud of her body hitting the floor at the bottom, and that when she saw it, the small upward tug on the shooter's lips.

Suddenly, blood deluged through her entire body, time sped up and Natalie's world flew apart.

"AAAHHHHH!" screamed Natalie, as she pulled out a dart gun, this one a bit bigger than the last one, took aim and fired.

"BANG! BANG!" the two guards fell down and started chocking and then convulsing, and before they knew it, they were limp. But she kept shooting dead bodies in rage. Soon, five more guards came through door; her body didn't hesitate.

'I'll make you PAY! How do like the feel of these cyanide bullets!' she screamed in her head as shifted her aim and shot. Five more bodies fell, and she still kept shooting away after they had died. Once more five more came rushing.

'It doesn't matter, they're going down'

"Click! Click!" the gun's magazine was empty. And as soon as Natalie's rage possessed her, fear now took its place. But the guards didn't stop running. They jumped over Sophie's body and rushed for her. She didn't have time to reload.

'I'm going to die!'

"AGGGGHHH!" came a beastly scream, and Natalie watched as one the guards fell down, and blood splattered on the wall on his right. The two men in front of her turned behind them. All they saw was a white diagonal gleam, as one guard found his torso separated from his waist; and the other lost his arm and balance, fell of the rail and plummeted to the bottom of the building, his blood-curdling scream ringing in the air. The two men nearest to the door stood frozen as another white gleam, this time followed by a flash of blond hair, cut across and decapitated them, their bodies falling as it spouted blood where once there was a head.

In the middle of it all stood Sophie, her sword outstretched and covered in a film of blood. The walls on her left and right were painted in the deep red liquid. She looked up, and saw Natalie in shock, and offered her a smile. That was all it took, as the Lucian agent rushed towards her and glomped her. And then she heard her sob.

"I…I thought *sob* I lost you" wailed Natalie, her head buried in her shoulder. Sophie allowed herself so sigh.

"It's all right. It'll take more than just a gun to take me down"

Natalie looked up and pulled away.

"How did?…How the?"

In response, Sophie lifted her under armor, and showed what lay underneath. It looked like thin flak jacket, with overlapping scales reminiscent of a reptile. That's when it struck Natalie.

"Dragon Skin Kevlar…" she said amazed

"Not just any Dragon Skin Kevlar; it's the Ekats' version. It stopped the bullet from piercing my body, but I was shot at such close range that, the force wasn't absorbed properly, and stunned me for a while. Now come on, we need to head out. There might be some more above we need to take care of."

Natalie nodded and quickly wiped her tears away.

'I can cry about this later, but now I survive'

Knowing that they'd been found out, they wasted no time running quietly, and flew up the stairs, with Sophie in the front and Natalie bringing up the rear.

Just as Sophie had predicted there were more guards that filled the staircase above. Sophie began by stretching out her blade and jumping from stair rails, to walls, to heads, in an erractic, but graceful dance; there was no limit to her mobility as any and every surface was within her range. Her katana gleamed beautifully in its cruelty as it slashed and drew blood.

Natalie filled the air with gunshots, her aim precise and deadly, working with Sophie's movements. When she jumped away, those who hadn't met their deaths by steel met their deaths by poison. When she had to stop to reload, Sophie rushed into the crowd, weaving in and out, aiming for the legs, hands and heads. And this was how they made their way up for the next six floors, painting the white brick walls thick with blood and littering the steps with bodies. Any guards remaining had abandoned their stations after hearing and seeing the massacre.

The two agents were exhausted, Sophie even more so being a Janus. Natalie quickly contacted HQ

"Ned *huff-huff* Ted, get Jonah"

"On it, you have six minutes left. Hurry! There's a good chance that the security will go into panic mode once the dampening field wears off" yelled Ted.

Looking at Sophie, she grabbed her arm and began to run up the next seven floors trying to beat the clock.

'If we don't make it in time we'll be locked in!' thought Sophie as she and Natalie ran as fast as they could. It seemed to both of them that they wouldn't make it, they had two floors, and a bit more than a minute left. They ran faster, if that was possible, and soon the roof door was within their sights. With newfound motivation the two agents ran straight for the door, with Natalie's hand reaching and twisting the handle, and without missing a beat, dove forward and landed on the concrete rooftop. No sooner had they done that when numerous the building alarms started ringing, and the door that they had come through suddenly shut and locked itself.

As the two seventeen year olds were trying to catch their breath, they heard a noise of chopped wind approaching them. Turning to their left, they saw a helicopter come towards them. It was Jonah! He hovered the helicopter above them, the wind gusting against them, and dropped a rope ladder from the front passenger side. Summoning their last bit of strength, the girls climbed up the ladder and into the copter.

Natalie slumped in the back seat while Sophie sat in the front. Jonah pressed one of the many glowing buttons and the rope ladder started reeling in. He then turned on his channel.

"This is Jonah to HQ, I have retrieved both agents, and declare this mission both successful and complete."

"We've received your statement, now get everyone home"

"Next destination, home, you guys" said Jonah as he turned the copter flew forward.

"Home, huh?" said Natalie, and then letting exhaustion taking over her, closed her eyes and gave herself to the only that brought her peace these days, sleep.

Sophie took a blanket, pulled it out of its cover and draped her friend in it. She looked at Natalie with a sad smile. She then sat back down in her seat. Jonah glanced over Natalie, and then looked at his girlfriend with concern, and found the same emotion in her blue eyes. She looked at him and said

"She's been through a lot"

Jonah knew Sophie wasn't just talking about the mission. Going back to his task of piloting the copter, he reached for and briefly squeezed her hand.

"Haven't we all?"

The rest of the ride was quiet, but they were heading home, and that's all that mattered.

THE END OF CHAPTER 1

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><p><span>PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING<span>

**Thanks for reading everyone! Please R&R to give me your thoughts and comments. This is part of a large project and every comment helps! NO FLAMES, but constructive criticism is more than greatly appreciated, as I feel like parts of this chapter dragged on and weren't good enough. I know that you might have some questions about some of the contents, such as, what's an A, B, C, D-rank agent, or what's Infiltration, or the Supreme Council. The major part of this project involves expanding the Cahill role. Because of this, I have decided to make this a multiverse project where there will be multiple stories (mostly one-shots), all connected to this one in some way. About you questions, I'm creating a supporting story that will allow me to answer your questions (kind of like the BLACK BOOK OF BURIED SECRETS type thing.) provide trivia, and my additions to the Cahill story. The reason for this is to allow me to focus on this plot completely, without having to digress unnecessarily. Drop by any suggestions (by PM) that you'd like to see be part of the project; it's a massive project in the making and your ideas help! Thanks for your patience.**


	2. Chap 2: The Memories That Plague My Mind

**Hey there everyone! I'm ALIVE! It's midterms month for me here, but thanks goodness we have spring break this week. This month is the reason why I wasn't able to upload during the month of February (I was juggling studying for midterm in addition to daily homework and extracurricular stuff at university). I find it a bit ironic that I'm posting this chapter the day before my birthday, and two days before St. Patrick's Day (there's a nice tribute to St. Patty's in here somewhere). Well then happy early birthday to me, and you all enjoy reading this and your St. Patrick's Day!**

****DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTER OF THE 39 CLUES UNIVERSE. ALL CREDIT GOES TO RICK RIORDAN AND AFFILIATED AUTHORS!****

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: The Memories Which Plague My Mind<strong>

"You disappoint me Natalie…" said Vikram, his deep voice resonating in the almost dark, windowless chamber. In the center was Natalie, about eight years old, sitting on a stool.

"F-Father, it was only the first miss-"

"YOU ARE A LUCIAN! AND A KABRA AT THAT!" snapped Isabel, who was standing off to the side, her perfect visage now distorted in rage and disgust. "ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS SLIP THAT BUG INTO SINEAD STARLING POCKET! AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN MANAGE THAT!"

Natalie flinched away from her mother's voice. She wanted to say it was an accident; anyone could've misplaced something as small as that bug. But her tongue had gone limp, and couldn't make herself speak.

"I refuse to have a failure of a daughter; I hope your punishment teaches you that lesson" Vikram stated, coldly. He brought his hand in front of him; it held a small whip. Natalie's heart raced, and adrenaline rushed through her entire being. Her mind was screaming at her to move, to scream and to beg, but the eight year old just sat there, pupils dilated and frozen in fear. She only whimpered as Vikram raised whip above his head, and brought it down.

* * *

><p>Natalie shot up from her bed with a gasp. She looked around in a panic, her mind in overdrive. Her lungs forced her body to draw in copious amounts of precious oxygen as if she had just surfaced from underwater. Recognizing her room in the British Cahill Base, she began to calm herself. Massaging her chest in order to aid in breathing, she looked around to find the clock. On the table top beside her sat a small electric one, with 10:57 AM glowing in green numbers. Relaxing herself, Natalie let out a huge sigh. Then, the door opened and in stepped Sophie, looking well rested in her tie dye silk PJs. Natalie glared at her best friend nightwear.<p>

"You'd think after knowing me for so long that you'd take a page from my book and improve your wardrobe."

Sophie responded back with her usual smile and chipper attitude.

"It's my nightwear, so sue me. Just be glad I didn't dress you in this last night"

Natalie looked down at herself. Indeed, she was no longer wearing the Ekat suit, only the sport's bra and short shorts she had worn underneath.

"Yeah, I would've shot you if you'd done that" she replied, dryly. And then a smirk appeared on Natalie's lips. "So tell me do those seizure-inducing nightwear help you in seducing Jonah? Or does he does look at you like he's on an acid trip?"

"At least I'm guaranteed a bash in the sack later this week, which is more than I can say for you" Sophie quipped back, with a wide grin on her face. 'Well, it looks like Natalie's back to normal, for now. I'll have to ask her about some things later.'

"Hahahaha! She burned you there, Natalie"

The two girls turned around to see Ted Starling trying to keep his footing amidst laughing too hard.

The cinnamon-skinned beauty chose to direct her most serpentine glare at him.

"And a good morning to you, Ted" said Sophie, with a smile. She's recognized him right away; the eye surgery he received had changed his eye color to a lighter shade of blue than his brother's.

"Same to you, Soph!" Turning to Natalie, he continued, "Now, Natalie, glaring holes at someone is no way to start the morning. But then again it must be from all those repressed needs of yours. Too bad you're too much of a prude to help your case"

"Really? This coming from the boy who pissed his underwear when Madison Holt gave him a wet willy, jumped up and screamed "THEY'VE INVADED MY BRAIN" and ran himself into the wall?"

"Hey, in my defense, I was blind, and had just listened Discovery Channel's 'Monsters Inside of Me' the day before. "

Natalie just rolled her eyes at him

"Yeah right, but too bad you never fell for those sorts of pranks after your surgery"

"I agree. You were so much more fun when you were blind, Ted"

"Sophie, not you too!" said Ned pulling out his ultimate pout-puppy eyes combo on her.

Sophie giggled at Ted's attempt to make her feel guilty.

"Only Jonah's puppy eyes work on me Ted"

"Dang it! I guess I've lost for today." He said in mock defeat. Then, remembering the real reason he had come to the room, he straightened up, his lips a grim line on his face. Noticing the change, Sophie and Natalie tensed up as well.

"Now for the reason I'm here. Sophie, Natalie, the Supreme Council has requested an audience with those who participated in yesterday's mission"

Sophie and Natalie froze.

'The Supreme Council? They never call on any agents after a mission!' Sophie thought, her mind running through the past three months to see if she'd slipped somewhere.

"Did…did something go wrong?" asked Natalie, whose voice was laced heavily in nervousness.

Ted shook his head.

"I don't know, I'm just the messenger. I received orders form Jonah that they wanted to see all of us in an hour.

"All right then. Thanks Ted. You may leave" said Sophie

Ted nodded, and left.

Both girls were now being inundated with a mental storm of what they did that could have possibly asked for summons by the Supreme Council itself. They were to be rightly feared as they consisted of the strongest, most powerful and most talented members of each branch of the Cahill family. Though they were mostly civil, they abided heavily by the rules and didn't tolerate a lot of deviations from it. The Council was part of the reason why the five branches were now so stable and efficient in carrying out operations. After the Vesper Incident, the Cahills realized just how vulnerable they were to their eternal enemies and it was unanimously decided to change the leadership infrastructure to best combat and safeguard against the Vespers. It was a gamble and a long haul, but it paid off.

"Natalie, get ready and eat up. I'll meet you in front of the meeting room, okay? I'm going to see Jonah about this"

Natalie nodded, taking in Sophie's worried appearance. After her best friend left, Natalie got up and went to the small closet in the room. In it there were linen towels of different sizes and some generic toiletry; the latter eliciting a grimace from the Kabra.

'Ahh. Here we go." she said as she spotted her pink duffel bag on the bottom of the closet. Opening it up, she pulled out a change of clothes and a huge bag of beauty and bath products. She then made her way to the girls bathhouse. After doing her morning routine, Natalie looked at herself in the large wall mirror in the baths. Bending forwards with her face close, she scrutinized herself.

'There's something off…but what is it?' Her face looked all right. Makeup did no justice to her beauty, which was now bordering womanhood at seventeen years of age. Her skin was free of all blemishes and was a uniform shade of warm copper brown. It seemed that the attention she got from the male race had doubled ever since she got curves. Her face had lost its childish mounds and transformed into gently angled slopes. Eyes colored like warm honey stared back at her, compared to the cold amber ones she had years before. Pushing her silky night black hair, Natalie brought herself closer to the mirror.

'Something's off, but why can't I see it?'

Not matter many times she angled herself in front of the mirror, Natalie couldn't find what seemed wrong with her. Giving up, she stood up straight and tightened the towel wrapped around her body, when then she brushed against _that._ Natalie's hand froze on the spot. She released a breath she didn't know she was holding, and closed her eyes. Slowly and hesitantly, she ran her fingers over the smooth scar that stretched from the bottom of her collarbone to where her shoulder began. It was thin, slightly bumpy and almost the same color as the rest of her skin. But to her, it was the most glaring feature of her body and she felt vulnerable whenever it was exposed.

Behind Natalie's closed eyes, memories began to stir.

'Stop! Now's not the time, Natalie' she admonished herself. She opened her eyes and sighed.

'I can deal with this later; I need to get through the Supreme Council first.'

With strength and determination returning to her eyes, she quickly changed into a pink chemise and black yoga pants…And then she looked at the watch.

"Ten minutes to noon! I'm late!"

Rushing out the bath house, the young Lucian made a quick detour towards the mess hall/kitchen, grabbed an apple custard tart and proceeded to grab an elevator to the underground levels, where all the major operations of the Cahills were carried out. Ten seconds seemed like hours to her as the elevator zoomed down with surprising speed, making it slightly hard to down her tart. As soon as the elevator opened and Natalie rushed out towards the meeting room.

* * *

><p>Flynn O'Shea was finally going to do it. Today was the day he was finally going do what he'd spent the last three years and half mustering his courage up for. He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and a reflection of a twenty year old young man in a deep purple shirt tucked into black dress pants stared back at him. He frowned at his appearance. He was…passable. He looked rather boyish and mischievous than his age indicated, and pushing back his straight brown hair helped…a bit. For the first time in his twenty years, the brown eyed, lightly freckled Irishman was trying to actually be his age.<p>

'Well no wrinkles…the belt's there…face is washed, teeth cleaned, breath smells minty fresh...and there's nothing explosive or flammable in my pockets'

Stepping back he spun around to see if there were any imperfections in his overall appearance. He certainly was not built like a field agent.

'But being athletic counts for something right?' he asked his reflection. 'Damn you, Katherine. You could've at least given your descendants something in the looks department, like your sister Jane did.'

Flynn wanted to rip his hair out.

'Arrggh! I didn't know asking Sinead Starling out for lunch would be such a hassle. Ahhh fuck it!'

Stepping out of the bathroom, he quickly made his way to the lab where she was working. All he had to do was walk to the end of the hallway, turn left, and knock at the first door.

He turned the corner, and BAM!

Flynn fell on his back, and felt something splatter on his face and shirt.

"What the hell is this" Getting off his back, he wiped the sticky, cold custard from his face, which then splattered onto his pants. He then glared at the person who had just crashed and burned his chance.

"What in the world, Natalie!"

Natalie quickly jumped to her feet, and helped young Ekat up.

"I'm so sorry, Finn. I almost late to a meeting; just wash that shirt in hot water and you'll be fine. Ta-ta for now!"

And then Natalie ran away.

"HEY! Get back here, Kabra!"

"What's with all the racket?"

'The universe must really hate me' Flynn thought to himself as he saw very object of his affection and present dilemma standing in front of him. Even though she was in a lab coat with giant goggles and her auburn hair in a messy bun, to Flynn, Sinead looked like the most beautiful person in the world.

'Great job, Flynn. Way to embarrass yourself in front of the one girl who accepts your pyromanic tendencies'

"H-Hey there, Sinead. Nice day for a stroll, eh?"

Sinead raised an eyebrow at the sight of her brothers' best friend, now covered in custard.

"You okay? Of course not, here let's get you cleaned up" she then grabbed his hand and headed off to the laundry room, practically dragging a now red-faced Irish with her.

* * *

><p>"Sophie!"<p>

Sophie Watson turned around to see her best friend run towards her.

"Am I late?" her friend asked, stopping in front of her.

"You almost didn't make it; what took you so long?" Sophie asked

"I'm on my period this week" Natalie blurted out, looking at the meeting room door.

Sophie scrutinized her sharply.

'She's not making eye contact. Natalie, you'd think I'd know when you're lying, tsk, tsk.'

"We'll talk about this later, come on everyone's waiting"

"Thank God it's only a video meeting; the Supreme Council really freaks me out, to be honest" smiling at Sophie as she opened the door.

"Umm..Natalie, about that"

"Now, now Miss Kabra, I don't believe we're that frightening"

That voice didn't sound like something from a video chat. Sophie smiled nervously at her.

"You see Natalie, the Supreme Council actually came in for this meeting."

Natalie held her breath and turned around with a wide smile to face the Supreme Council, who were sitting at a long table near the end of the room. Behind them were three large LED televisions mounted on a wall. A good fifteen feet in front of them was a long black leather sofa, with Jonah and the Starling brothers who, upon hearing Natalie's little comment, turned around with pity on their faces. Only the sofa and the seats of the Supreme Council were lit, while the rest of the room was shrouded in darkness.

'Way to insult the most powerful of the five branches, Natalie. Anything else you want to screw up?'

Sophie, sensing her friend's anxiety, grabbed her arm, and walked with her to the sofa. Sitting down Natalie examined the Council. The voice had come from the seat second on the far right. There, with short brown curls that framed her freckled face sat Flannery O'Shea of Ireland, Supreme leader of the Ekaterinas. From what Natalie heard, she was expert in everything that involved fire and explosions.

'Damn! I ran into her son, didn't I?' she thought nervously

Flannery looked at Natalie for a moment, with inquisitive brown eyes, and then gave her a motherly smile. To her, Ekat leader in the sunflower yellow sundress looked much younger than a woman in her late-forties. One the left of the Ekaterina seat was the seat of the Lucian Supreme Leader; sitting there in a gray suit and hat, Andras Georgley of Brazil- a tanned, thin and sharp-looking man in his fifties- glared at Natalie in annoyance.

'I'm sorry, Master. Hope you'll let that one go' Natalie pled sheepishly at Andras, looking at him.

As if he'd heard her, the old man's look softened, and nodded at her once before adopting a stoic, yet watchful visage. On the right of the Ekat seat and in the middle of the table was the seat of the Tomas Supreme Leader: Ivan Kleister of Norway. With his head tilted, causing his blond surfer hair to frame his face, the forty five year old looked at her as if he was trying very hard to not burst out in laughter. Natalie, in turn, had to suppress the urge to glare at the man in the black windbreaker.

'Let's not have a death wish yet, Natalie…' she scolded herself sarcastically

"There is no reason to look at us in such a way, Miss Kabra." said a male voice

"After all, how can we be angry at one of the best agents of the Cahill family" said a female one.

Turning to the right of the Tomas seat, Natalie faced a pair of night black eyes and two identical grins. There, on a rather large and long seat sat twins , one male and one female ; they were wearing dark green V- neck henleys, and were of lean built, with chocolate brown skin and wavy black hair: Paras and Priya Sekar of India, the Supreme Leaders of the Janus Branch. They were initiated into the Conucil when they were just fifteen years old and were, even four years later, the youngest leaders of the Council. It cause a bit of a civil war with the other four Branches for letting such young people in to lord over an entire branch, but the Sekar twins had secured the position as the most powerful and talented amongst the clever and creative wolf pack, a position they still held it seemed. Paras and Priya also had some sort of history with the Watson family, as Sophie would always been a bit too nervous when they seemed to be around. When Natalie once confronted her about it, her blonde friend had said that they were surprisingly nice and caring people, but that her family had experienced a frightening display of the twins' strength.

Then Natalie turned towards the last seat on the right side…which just happened to be empty.

'Wait…where's Fiske?'

She turned to her teammates, who were stealing glances at that empty Madrigal seat. Something didn't sit right with Natalie right then. Fiske, despite his old age, was never late for Council a meeting. Natalie turned to Andras , who responded with a shrug. Then Ivan Kleister straightened himself up.

"Looks like he's at an age where he can't travel anymore, maybe it's time for him to retire. " he said crudely.

No sooner did he say that when the door swung open and, lo and behold, stood Fiske Cahill in a black and gray suit, with a thin smile on his face.

"I assure you Ivan, my tardiness has nothing to do with age, but rather due to an unforeseen flight delay. And while we're on that topic, I am in good health and able to fulfill my duties as a Supreme Leader, thanks for asking"

"No offense meant, Fiske" the Norwegian responded.

"Of course you didn't. Let's get started shall we?" he asked and then walked towards his seat. Walking behind him were none other than Amy and Dan, dressed in all black with neutral expressions on their face. Amy had grown a bit taller and her hair was a darker shade of red. She'd gotten a bit prettier, Natalie admitted. But the most change had come to Dan. It had been two years since Natalie last saw him, during the A-Rank exam. He now stood four inches above his sister, and his face had transformed into that of man. His once medium length dark blond hair was now cut a bit shorter, enhancing his looks.

'He looks rather…handsome' Natalie admitted begrudgingly. Her last memory of the Cahill boy wasn't a pleasant one. The agents on the sofa turned and smiled at them, and Amy and Dan nodded in acknowledgement.

"I see you bought your bodyguards as well, Mr. Fiske. I hope they know where they're going?" asked Flannery.

'Wait, why does only Fiske have bodyguards? What about the other leaders?' Natalie asked herself.

Fiske only nodded in response. Amy and Dan then made their way to the unlit part of the room. That's when Natalie noticed them. Four pairs of people standing deep in the darkness. If she'd been just walking by there was no way she would've-even as an A-Rank agent- noticed them. She felt a chill run up her spine.

'So this is what it means to be a leader's bodyguard, huh?'

As the Cahill siblings made their way to the positions, the other agents noticed the way the Council trailed Dan with wary and suspicious looks.

'They still don't trust him, after what happened' thought Jonah.

He felt sorry for his 'little bro'. Dan and he had become close during their fiasco in China, and even closer still after Broderick's death. He knew what he did during the Vesper Incident wasn't entirely his fault; when the Council found out what he had almost done, they deemed him dangerous and gave the Madrigals a choice between having him executed or imprisoned for life. Those who had participated in the Clue Hunt and the Vesper Incident vehemently opposed the decision and vouched for him; the Council listened and was sympathetic, but deemed his eidetic knowledge of the Clues too dangerous to set free. Fiske found a way around the decision by having Dan become and A-Class agent and then assigned him as his bodyguard. But everything had a stipulation attached to it; in this case Dan was banned from any solo missions, and was first and foremost Fiske's bodyguard. If he was demoted from that position, then the original sentence would stand against him. So far he'd done well to avoid demotion, Jonah couldn't help but wonder how long he's could keep it up.

When Fiske sat down, the Council meeting began.

"I imagine it came to you a surprise to see us in the flesh, some more than others, nao?" asked Andras, directing the last part and Natalie, who was trying to not let the embarrassment show on her face.

"But first, congratulations are in order. Good job everyone; it is because of your hard work that the Vespers will take a crushing blow to their infrastructure. It should give us plenty of time to calculate our next move" said Priya, with a smile on her face, and the other leaders nodded in agreement.

"And we are glad to see that you survived your three months of Infiltration, Miss Sophie. I'm sure those months were quite stressful, so please take as long as you need to recover and rest before your next mission" Paras followed up, with an identical smile on his face.

Sophie bowed her head in gratitude

"Thank you very much".

"Now there are two reasons why the Council is physically here. One is so we all can see the fruits of you efforts" said Flannery who turned around and pointed a remote at the three screens behind her. The televisions flashed white once before displaying two different video feeds from inside the Williams and Stonecash Investors building. The screen on the left showed the archive computers at the basement level of the building. It was full of numerous computers and some super servers, with wires all over the place. It looked like the Amazon Jungle of electricity and technology. The second screen showed the inside of the CEO's office; the feed was coming from the very back wall, showing the CEO's giant monitor. These two screens were on pause, while the third one was a live news report. The blond anchorwoman spoke in a crisp, British accent.

"It has been just over two over hours since police and firemen were called downtown to the London -based Williams and Stonecash Investors. The dispatchers received a distress call from the CEO, Mr. Stanley Williams, who is a third generation leader of the business. He said in the call that all the computers in his company had, in his words "begin to simultaneously combust". Everyone was evacuated safely and there were no injuries reported. Arriving on the scene, the fire department stated that none of the computers had caught on flames, but were smoking due to being short-circuited, possibly the fault of rogue power surge. The police have been investigating all day employees that have arrived on the scene, in order to refute or confirm he possibility of an inside job, but to no avail. The police chief stated that they will continue to interview or call all employees who regularly use the computers until they can completely be sure. For more information and the CEO's statement please tune in later tonight at the seven o'clock newscast. Now another story that's trending-"

The screen beeped for a moment, before turning black. Flannery then turned her attention to the two screens on the left and pressed twice, and the two videos began to play.

"I'm guessing you guys hacked into the building's security system?" The questions had come from Ned.

Flannery nodded, with a mischievous smile, which the two Starlings mirrored in response.

"The video feed was from two hours ago, just as our Vesper friend came in to start his day" Fiske informed, referring to the two screens.

"And as you'll see shortly our little friend is going to get a surprise of a lifetime" Ivan added nonchalantly.

The agents watched as Mr. Stanley, a pudgy man in his late fifties, walked to his desk. Sitting down, he pressed some sort of button under it. On the left screen all sort beeps were heard as the archive mainframe in the basement hummed to life. Back on the second screen, Mr. Stanley was going through last night's work. This went on for a couple of minutes before he pulled up an encrypted file. At that point the video zoomed and focused on the file. He double clicked, and a password identification window popped up. He then punched in the password and hit enter. No sooner had he so, when a new window popped up. This one had a whimsical picture of Chuck Norris with big block letters that read "You've been PUNK'D! Have a nice day". Upon seeing it, Ned and Ted tossed their heads back dying of laughter, while Jonah just shook his head and Natalie and Sophie facepalmed themselves.

"What the hell is this" said Mr Stanley, stepping away from computer. As soon as he did his computer beeped and the screen turned black.

"What's that smell!" Looking down where this CPU was, he jumped away: there were wisps of black smoke coming from it.

"RING! RING!"

The flustered CEO picked the phone.

"WHAT! THE ARCHIVE ROOM'S BURNING? CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, QUICKLY!" he screamed at the person on the other end. Taking his cell phone he called the police, told the dispatcher of the situation and ran out of the room. Soon a fire alarm rang throughout the building. The agents turned to the attention to the Archive Room footage: all the electronics were dead, and the room was hazy with black smoke. Flannery reach up and clicked a button on the remote , and the two videos stopped.

"What was that, anyway?" Sophie asked, looking at Ned and Ted, who were still laughing,

Ted recovered first and answered her question, boundless mirth on his face

"Remember when we were copying that hard drive? After we had done that, Ned and I uploaded a bug into his computer. We made it a month before the retrieval mission. When someone opens any file requiring a password, the bug activates and crashed and destroys the files. It then goes on to swarm the entire computer"

"But what about all the files that aren't Vesper related? And why did the archive room short circuit too?" Jonah asked.

"You worry too much, Jonah" Ned said "We already took care of that. We programmed the bug to avoid any financial or public files. We also programmed to kill anything otherwise. Another function of the bug was to infect any every electronic device within the CEO's computer network. But we programmed a different command for them. In addition to bombing the archives, the bug will also copy all files within these computers." He then turned to Flannery "The copies will be sent to the M.O.S., where you can have other Ekat agents examine it, Mrs. O'Shea"

"Marvelous work you two! Katherine would've been proud! Now if only you could get my son to do something this constructive" Flannery said, clapping at her agents' work.

"You're too kind, Madam" said Ned, bowing in mock humility.

"Good job to all of you. This was possibly the riskiest mission we've ever assigned to anyone, and you all have exceeded our expectations" Fiske said, smiling at them. "And now we'll explain the second reason of why we're here. We, the Supreme Council, along with the other leaders of the five Branches have decided to hold a gala of sorts two days from now at this very base. The purpose of it is to keep and strengthen the ties between the Branches"

"The Supreme Council and all the other leaders will be present there for the evening. In addition there will be select A, B and even some C-Rank agents from all over the globe attending the event. All together there should be around a thousand people in attendance, a modest crowd" Andras said, all the while smirking.

"HA! Modest, he says!" roared Ivan in delight. "Who knew the Lucians had a sense of humor"

"We try, Mr. Kleister" the Brazilian man added dryly.

"I guess the gala could also double as a celebration of our small victory against the Vespers…" said Paras.

"…and for the safe return of out agents as well" Priya finished.

"Oh and you need to bring a date as well. It's required." Flannery added, whose eyes took up a mischievous glint, which she directed at the Starlings and Natalie, who now looked uncomfortable. On the other hand Jonah's hand stalked its way to Sophie, who giggled at the gesture.

"That is all. This meeting is now adjourned, and you all are dismissed" said Fiske.

The agents got up and left.

"All of us are going get some lunch, you want to join us Natalie?" Jonah asked, his large hand clasping Sophie's small one

"I'm not hungry at the moment, you guys go ahead. We can have lunch together tomorrow"

"I'll come by later so we can catch up" Sophie said, with an undertone of seriousness.

Natalie just nodded, and left for her room. She was about to open the door, when something on the bottom of the door caught her eye. She bent down and picked up the small white envelope. Tearing the flap open, she took out a small index card. Written neatly in black ink, it read:

"Meet me for lunch; Dining Room 4, 1:30 pm. From, Andras G."

Natalie walked in her room and checked the clock. It was 12:45pm. Natalie then picked up her phone and called home. Gerald, their butler answered the call. She told him to send ten of her best evening gowns to the base for the gala. After giving him the necessary instructions, Natalie put the phone down pulled opened her duffel bag to find something suitable to wear.

'Aha, here we go' she allowed herself to smile as she pulled out a gold sundress from Prada. After inspecting the dress for any wrinkles, she changed. After that she rubbed shea butter on her legs, arms and face. Then sitting down in front of the small mirror, she pulled out her make-up kit applied a little bronze eye shadow, mascara and some clear lip gloss, and she was done! There was a time when Natalie would've thrown in foundation and concealer, but that was before Sophie told her that she looked much better without a lot of make-up. She was right, of course: adolescence had treated Natalie's appearance quite well. She then brushed her hair and put it in a tight bun, leaving out some wisps of her night black hair to frame her face. She then put on a small pair of gold shark tooth earrings and decided her appearance was complete. Standing up she twirled in front of the mirror to make sure looked all right. Satisfied, she checked the clock. It was 1:15 pm

'Perfect, I'll make it on time'

Putting on some bronze flats, she walked to see her old master. Walking past the mess hall, Natalie walked to the private dining rooms that were behind it. Turning right, she saw a hallway full of doors.

'Now, Dining Room four…Oh never mind, there's Ricard and Marisol'

Speeding up a bit, Natalie stood in front of the two Lucians in army uniform. They were both formerly high ranking individuals in the Brazilian defense force, before becoming Andras' bodyguards when he became a Supreme Leader. Ricard stood at six feet and four inches, with olive skin, and an army buzz cut. His face had a scar running his from his right cheek down to his neck. He was built like a military man and emanated an aura of discipline and willpower. His partner was his exact opposite: Marisol was five feet and thee inches, had coffee skin, and her long dark hair was plaited behind her. She was beautiful in the deadly sort of way. She reminded Natalie of a cat, quiet and agile. Upon seeing the young Lucian, a smile cracked on their faces, a gesture Natalie returned.

"Bom Tarde, Senhor Ricard, Senhora Marisol" she greeted them in Portuguese.

"Ola, Senhorita Natalie. Eet seems you 'ave not forgotten your Portuguese?" Ricard said in a gruff voice.

"Of course not, Ricard! How could you think such a thing!" Natalie asked in mock horror. Ricard only chuckled in response.

"You 'ave certainly grown eento a byuutiful woman seence I last saw you. Mestre Andras ees waiting for you. Enter, por favor" said Marisol, who then stepped aside and pulled the door open. Natalie waved at them before stepping in the room.

The first thing she noticed about the room was that it was covered deep red wallpaper with gold trimmings. It practically radiated warmth. The lights were dimmed a bit bringing out the depth in the room's colors. In the center of the room was an ornate round table, with two seats across from each other. In one of them sat Andras, dressed in a dark brown suit and pants and was reading a newspaper. Next to him was a linen covered cart full of delicious and mouth-watering Brazilian cuisine. Natalie stomach growled loudly in agreement, and the sound echoed throughout the room.

'Someone just shoot me' she groaned in embarrassment. Andras looked up, and smiled at Natalie. Folding his newspaper he stood up. Natalie bowed forward.

"Boa tarde, mestre" she greeted him politely. Andras just waved her off. He then went up to her and gave his former student a warm and long hug.

"There is no need for such a formal greeting. And I quit being your master after you completed my training two years ago. Come, let's sit and talk. I haven't seen you in the flesh in since you left Brazil"

Natalie obliged, and once they'd seated themselves, Andras' smile transformed into a grin, seeing how his pupil had changed in two years.

"You have become a woman, Natalie. All the times I saw you through the video Council meetings do no justice to your appearance. Absolutely stunning, the most beautiful Kabra I've ever seen."

"Even more than Isabel?" she questioned and she noticed her heart rate spiked when she said her mother's name

Andras frowned deeply, and his eyes took on a cold glint.

"Isabel was beautiful once upon a time. But when a person gains a black heart he or she can never be beautiful, no matter how much they try to alter their physical appearance." And then the smile returned. " You are so much more than what your parents ever strived for; the same goes to your brother as well. Tell me, how is he?"

"Well, he's busy, going to meetings and attending to business and whatnot. Being the head of the European Lucians is a job far more demanding than he imagined. But he's been doing it for almost four years so he's finally gotten used to it"

"I can already imagine him running around in a panic. I still say you were a better candidate for the European leadership. You have far more common sense than your brother."

"True, but then again these are Cahills were talking about. Leading them involves abandoning rationality, among many other things, to begin with. Besides, Ian has more patience than I do; Lucians are stubborn to the bitter end, and I don't have a fuse long enough to deal with that."

"I see your point" chuckled Andras. "Now let's eat. I'm sure your stomach your stomach agrees. I asked the chef to make all your favorite foods from your stay at Brazil. He handed Natalie her silverware, which was wrapped in a large napkin. After setting the napkin on her lap, Andras served her the first course. It was pao de quiejo, a bread roll that was stuffed with cheese. Natalie practically moaned as bit into the spice-rubbed crust and the warm, gooey cheese oozed onto her tongue. She had two more after her first one.

"Here's something to help you down that" Andras said, pouring her a glass of Brazilian lemonade.

Natalie hummed as the cool, and smooth lime-infused condensed milk hit her tongue. Andras then served the second course. It was a large plate of white rice and beans, with collard greens and feijoada, a meat and vegetable stew, on the side. Throughout the meal, Natalie and her former teacher caught each other up on what had happened since they last saw each other. They shared memories, laughs, embarrassing stories, as well as missions and events that had occurred within the Lucian Branch.

By the time they got to dessert, which consisted of café con leche (a Latin coffee beverage) and pao de mel (a small honey cake covered in chocolate), three hours had passed. Leaning back on her chair, Natalie relaxed herself into the plush cushioning, and sighed. All this nostalgia was dredging up some memories she'd like to avoid walking through. She closed her eyes and worked on shutting them away, which took much longer than it usually did. When she brought herself back to reality, she saw Andras staring at her intently, a slight frown settling on his shaven and tanned face. Feigning ignorance, she smiled.

"Thank you for the meal"

Andras frowned a bit deeper

"You're very welcome; anything from my most talented student."

"Well I guess I'll take my-"

"Before you leave, you shall answer some of my questions, Natalie" boomed the commanding voice of the voice of the old man. Natalie tensed a bit, but nodded anyway.

"Explain to me why you're acting this way"

"What do you mean?"

"There's something off about you, emotionally and mentally I mean. It's as if something inside you is dying, Natalie. What is it? And what's its cause?"

'He's not beating around the bush is he? Just goes straight for the kill"

Natalie looked away from Andras, and found herself suddenly interested in the wallpaper behind him.

'Is Andras right? If so then what is it?'

To Natalie, the few seconds of inner reflection seemed to take hours. Finally, she breathed deep and faced the sharp- eyed old man.

"Truth be told, I don't know myself. Ever since this year started I've felt…irritated. Like there's something in my life or something I'm missing from it, which makes me want to scream bloody murder. And since the last two months, I've been feeling more stressed and exhausted, and I find myself thinking about the past a lot." Her gaze dropped to her lap and sighed. "Truth is I don't know."

"Natalie, look at me"

The young Lucian did as she was told.

"Let me tell you something. Four years ago, a thirteen year old girl showed up at my doorstep in Brazil and demanded that I make her my student. Imagine my surprise and annoyance at the little girl's bravery and audacity. That was the day you became my student. Before you, I had trained many agents in the tricky and dangerous Lucian art of Poison Mixing. It takes every student a minimum of seven years to master it. I set a record by mastering that deadly talent in five years. But that was before you came along. What took me half a decade to expert in, you mastered in just two years and I taught you all that I knew. You were, and still are, the best student I have ever had. And you were successful because you were persistence, had confidence in your abilities, and because you never settled for anything less than perfect."

Andras stood up and walked towards Natalie, taking her right hand in his.

"I do not know what you're going through, nor do I think I will ever completely understand. But, I'll say this much. When you figure out what's troubling you, I hope you will face it same drive I saw you employ when you were my student."

"I'll try, Andras. Thanks for the meal and the advice. Let's do this again sometime"

"Of course, and bring your brother next time around."

"I will"

Andras smiled, then kissed the back of her hand, and then Natalie left the room, waving to Ricard and Marisol as she walked away. Making her way to the room, Natalie was ready for nap. Stepping in, the first thing she saw was her best friend sitting on the bed.

"Hello, Natalie let's talk" she said with a sharp look on her face,

"Not now, I need a nap. We can catch up afterwords"

"Well we need to do more than just catch up, I have questions"

"Like I said I need a nap. Besides why don't go bother Jonah; I mean aren't you both supposed to have a 'bash in the sack'" Natalie quipped back, quoting what Sophie had said earlier.

Sophie blushed.

"That can wait, but we seriously need to talk about some things. I've been away for too long it seems."

"You dealt with not interrogating me for three months, I'm sure can you can wait an hour or two. And I can't guarantee I'll answer any of your questions."

"Fine, since you won't, I'm not getting out of your bed" Sophie answered back now sitting up straight, crossing her arms.

Natalie gave the blonde a blank expression, before walking up to her, grabbing her legs…

"Hey! What are you-AAHH!"

…and pulled Sophie off the bed, whose bum had a rude meeting with the carpet floor.

"Ow, that was uncalled for!"

"Do you want some cheese with your whine?" Natalie undid the straps of her dress, let it drop, gathered it in her hand and threw it at her best friend.

"HEY!" Sophie yelled, as untangled herself from the gold sundress.

Natalie changed into her pink chemise and black yoga pants again, preparing for her nap.

"You can keep the dress. Heaven knows your wardrobe needs it"

She then jumped into her bed and made herself comfortable in the cool sheets and pillow.

"Fine" Sophie said, giving in to Natalie stubbornness "We'll talk after your nap, and you'll definitely answer all my questions, even if I have to use force"

Natalie looked up from her pillow and raised an eyebrow at her best friend's dramatic threat.

"HA! I'd like to see you try"

Sophie responded with a smirk.

"Challenge accepted"

Natalie returned to her comfy and cool pillow, while Sophie sat by the desk, pulled out some blank paper from one of the drawers and began folding it, intent on making origami to pass the time. Just before she started, she cast a worried glance at her friend's dozing form.

'Just what has happened to Natalie since I left?"

**PORTUGUESE 101**

**Nao (now): No**

**Boa tarde (Bo-a TAHR-de): Good afternoon**

**Ola: Hello**

**Senhor (si-NYOR): sir**

**Senhora (si-NYOR-ah): madam/Mrs.**

**Senhorita (si_NYOR-ita): Miss, refering to a young woman**

**Por favor: Please**

**Mestre (MAYS-ter): Master**

**Pao de quiejo (pow-dzi-kej-zu)**

**Feijoada (fej-zu-'ada)**

**Pao de mel (pow-dzi-meel)**

**END OF CHAPTER TWO  
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><p>Hello everyone, Hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Please review, I'd love you hear your thoughts andor criticisms (NO FLAMES, PLEASE!) The next one won't but up until the first week of APRIL since I have midterms all this month! Have a great St. Patrick's Day!


	3. Author's Note :D

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hey there every one, Kaigetsu here! I know that you were a bit disappointed when you stumbled across this page, expecting a new chapter. I know I promised to have Chapter 3 in the first week of April. Unfortunately, this month is finals month. So far, I've done three, and only have four more to go! So this is but a temporary hiatus, and the third chapter will be posted around the **first week of May at the latest**. Also there will be two other chapters uploaded for the month of May! Think of it my way of apologizing for the delay for this chapter. Also, please check out the companion story "Path of Broken Souls: The M.O.S. Files" for plot fillers, side stories, and my interpretation of the Cahill world. But for now here's a head's up for what happening in Chapter 3!

Chapter 3

**Dan Cahill put his two cents in.**

**FIGHT SCENE! :D**

**A trip down memory lane**

**The darkness is growing…**

Thanks to everyone who reads this story! And a special thanks to all those who reviewed, who I will mention below! **If **the aforementioned bulleted list isn't enough to quench your thirst for the next chapter, there are some **snippets near the end of this page**. **Enjoy and tell me what you think, by leaving a review!**

**greenkittycat: **Thank you so much for the kind words. I wanted to portray Dan and Natalie as all grown up!

**Volcanic Lily: **Yeah, I'm still getting used the writing this, but thanks for your opinion. I'm holding back on the language as much as I can. I can promise you that I won't drop the F-bomb in here. It type about 15 pages per chapter, but its going to get much longer, later on. The plot thickens ;)

**MadrigaGryffindor3**: thank you so much for reviewing and I'm glad you like the plot. The Natan coupling start around the 6th, 7th or 8th chapter, depending on how I can cram in a chapter.

**Amianfan102**: Thanks for reviewing! I'll be updating every two weeks if I had my way.

**Rouma Hassitt**: a super-duper special thanks to my **first reviewer**! You get a jar of cookies, yeah! :D Natalie's all grown up now, but most of her personality is still intact, if you continue to follow this story, you shall see ;)

**Chapter 3: The Darkness That Lurks Within Me (preview)**

…and his body arched forward, his lungs trying draw breath but to no avail…His green eyes bugged out in shock, and one hand flew to his neck while the other clawed desperately at the clay flooring, as if that could make him breath…

….'Why isn't he taking any damage? And how can someone so old fight so long' he thought desperately as he examined his opponent…

… Anger suddenly flooded his body, demanding his body to focus. It was accompanied by snippets of the source of his rage: the burden of the Cahill name that left him an orphan at childhood, the Vespers hunting them down and making Amy and him do things they'd never do, and the harsh looks on other Supreme Council's faces when they delivered their ruling, even as he begged on his knees to spare his life…


	4. Chap 3: A Life-Long Promise Kept

**HELLO EVERYONE! I'M BACK AFTER A LOOOOONGG TIME! THOUGHT I GAVE UP? NEVER! ANYWAYS, ENJOY AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. THE ACTION STARTS AFTER THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND HAVE FUN!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own or am affiliate with any of the 39 Clues material.**

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><p><strong> Chapter 3: A Life-Long Promise Kept<strong>

**Grace's Mansion, the eight nights before the Williams and Stonecash breakout.**

The moon draped the lovely mansion with its silver light, accentuating the details in the mansion's architecture. It was as if the moonlight was bringing to life the depth of cut, smooth bricks and wood layered with decorative slabs of creamy marble and ebony granite, lavishing its mysterious light on this jewel of the Boston mansion suburbs. If only it could sense the chaos swirling in the bowels of this home.

Underneath the mansion was a huge second basement, built underneath the smaller first one. This was used expressly by the Madrigal Supreme Leader, Fiske Cahill, to send out orders and manage the branch's huge network. It held about fifteen huge rooms, not counting the normal utilities, each built for a certain purpose. There was a library stocked with tomes from all over the world, a computer command center to receive information from Madrigals worldwide, a training gym, a disaster shelter, food storage (the second largest room), were among the included in this subterranean level. In the training arena, which was the largest room in the underground level, where for the past hour sounds of metal clashing, breaths panting and hard footsteps were heard.

It held four different chalk bordered arena, each the size of half a football field. Bright lights illuminated the arenas.

"Agggh!" came a yell as a tall, blond young man flew backwards, landing and rolling on the hard clay floor. Panting, Dan Cahill got up, stifling his body's cries against the action. Pain shot across his whole being and his breath came out ragged.

'Why isn't he taking any damage? And how can someone so old fight so long' he thought desperately as he examined his opponent. His eyes narrowed, and he scrutinized the old man the fifteen feet ahead of him. At six feet tall, the thick-mustached man was watching the young Cahill. He was wearing sparring robes and was in his eighties, but his slightly built, husky body was would said otherwise. With a stern gaze on his weathered face, he glared at the young man Cahill.

"I'll give you credit, petit garçon. No one has lasted this long against me and still find the energy to stand up. Whether this is bravery or foolishness, however, is something I yet have to see."

Dan responded by glaring at his examiner. Then he looked down at himself, checking for any injuries. His body was tired and starting to fatigue after the past hour's strenuous fight. His legs were heavily bruised, his knees taking the most damage from all the falling. The bones and muscles in his arms were beginning to go numb and his shoulder joints were in pain. Even breathing at this point was a chore, as his chest struggled to draw in oxygen, despite the haze of pain over it.

"Shit! I was reckless, wasn't I?"

As if reading his mind the old man spoke.

"Your first mistake was going all-out offensive against me. I'm guessing you thought that because I'm an old man, I wouldn't be able to keep up with your speed and agility. I'm sorry to say that all you did was waste your precious energy." He then turned behind him, facing the two people standing outside the arena: Fiske and Amy.

"And he is supposed to be a bodyguard? Oh, mon Dieu! If there were an emergency situation where he had to fight against two of me, he'd be killed within the first ten minutes! And you're life would be in danger because of his failure, Fiske!"

The Mardigal Supreme Leader coolly stared back at the tall, husky examiner.

"Unfortunately, there are not two of you. And if this was a real world situation, Dan has bought me enough time to get away safely. I believe the fact that he's done that meets qualifies him to pass this inspection doesn't it, Francois?"

The said man barked out a thick laugh.

"Still the comedian, oui Fiske? I knew I liked you for a reason. You are quite correct; your nephew has met the minimum requirements to pass his bodyguard review. However, he's no ordinary bodyguard and I am no ordinary examiner. He supposed to guard you, the Supreme Leader of the Madrigals. If anyone, Vesper or otherwise, comes against you, they shall come with overwhelming force. If that were the case, your nephew wouldn't be able to hold them off for long. As Head of the Exam Board, my expectations for him are much higher than any of my subordinates."

He then turned to Dan and smirked at him.

"If you want to pass my inspection, garçon, you must defeat me, in any way you wish."

A wicked smile found its way to young Cahill's lips in response.

"Ohh, I'm so going to enjoy this, old man" he quipped trying to get a rise out him, but in vain; Francois just raised a cool eyebrow at him. Dan's arrogant nonchalance, however was just a façade; deep inside he was panicking.

'C'mon Dan, think! How can you beat old Frankie?' he thought, his sharp jade irises analyzing Francois's figure trying to find a weak spot. He went over the information he received on the Header of the Exam Board. 'Francois Bernard, age 83, from Quebec, Canada and a Madrigal'. When he arrived earlier that night, Dan was caught a bit off-guard. Aside from the tall, imposing figure and the permanent stoic look on his rather wrinkled face, Dan thought he might not stand much of a chance. Of course, Francois, despite his age, was a Cahill and so Dan decided that his strategy was to overwhelm him with his speed and agility before he had a chance to pull out some powerful moves. When it was time for the inspection, Dan started out by using Rufus and Remus, the twin tungsten swords Amy and he had discovered in Venice during the Clue Hunt. Dan rushed into Francois, Rufus and Remus flashing dangerously behind him, and went in for a double stab. To his great surprise, Francois countered by blocking it with a rapier, and then swiftly swatting each sword away from his body. Dan wanted to laugh: who used a rapier against two katanas? Not discouraged, Dan continued with his offense, guiding his blades into a dangerous dance trying to break the old Madrigal's guard, but to no avail; the old man perfectly blocked every hit Dan threw at him. Frustrated, Dan decided if he couldn't break him head on, he'd outmaneuver him.

Using his superior speed and agility, Dan bobbed and weaved around the Canadian, combining his swift movement with a barrage lunges, stabs, faints and slashes. Francois, much to the blonde's ever growing irritation, countered his movement perfectly, his swordplay parrying Dan's move for move. It had taken Dan a few more clashes before he realized how the old man had been besting him. First of all, he was definitely not a Madrigal descended from Madeleine, but one of Jane's who had defected to the secretive branch's cause. He was definitely not a full-blooded Janus, that too was clear: Dan had never lasted so long so easily in a sword fight against Sophie. Also Francois was in no way agile, but his swordplay was unique. He blocked the Cahill's attack not by applying his own force against it, but by moving with his attack, and when the swords clashed, Francois would twist his sword perpendicular to the applied force, causing the momentum of Dan's attack to break. It was a valuable sword technique that hard to master, and was executed in less than a second, deceiving the opponent into thinking that that user was much stronger than they seemed. The choice of a rapier also made sense now. Being a slim and slight sword, the rapier had little air resistance, and a master swordsman could dramatically and swiftly change its direction with a mere flick of his or her wrist.

Sensing the boy had caught onto his fighting style, the Madrigal examiner went on the offensive. Dan blocked his every move, but didn't have enough time to counter, and within a few more clashes Rufus and Remus had been tossed away from blond teenager. Throwing away his own weapon, Francois then switched to fighting hand to hand, sending three quick, strong jabs to Dan's chin, chest and abdomen, and then high-kicked him across the face with lightning speed, sending the young boy spinning away, stunned.

Dan hit the clay court, his body crying out in pain, especially in the spots where he'd been hit. He felt like his body was spinning and falling down at the same time. Tightening his focus and will, he slowly stood up and waited for the vertigo to pass. His head clear, Dan rushed in and sent a barrage of karate punches at the old man. Francois countered by staying just out of reach from the attack and jumping in long enough to send a few quick jabs and brutal kicks to break Dan's sequence and send him to the ground. By this time Dan had finally figured out the fighting style Francois was using: It was savate, or French kick boxing. This made sense why he had such painful and lightning quick kicks. But this fact didn't unnerve him at all. This inspection was more than just a routine check-up: his life depended on him passing, and he wasn't going to give up yet.

Each time, however, Francois beat Dan to the ground and, to his amazement, each time young Cahill got up to rush in for another round. A good fifteen minutes into the fight, the inspector's age began to inhibit his ability to dodge, so he switched to blocking Dan's moves instead. The old man praised the face that this didn't escape the Cahill's notice, who now attacked him with newfound vigor. But this too was in vain, Francois only upped the ante on his attack pattern, punching and kicking Dan in the weak spots his body: his joints, pressure points and sensitive muscles. His new attack sequence began to take immediate effect: it took longer for Dan to stand up and attack back, and certain muscles of his body began to lock, reducing his flexibility and movement dramatically.

It had almost been a bit more than half an hour, and when Francois decided that the fight had gone on long enough, and decided to finish the fight. Dan backed up all the way to the end of the arena and ran at him with surprising speed. The Madrigal Inspector set himself into a defensive stance, one leg in front of the other and hands up. As Dan was within four feet, he jumped up, and launching his body into a flying knee kick aimed at Francois' face. The old man dropped to his knees and dodged the attack by a millisecond. Dan landed on his feet behind him and stood up to deliver a counterattack, only to have the Canadian aim a round house kick into his solar plexus. The kick sent Dan flying a good fifteen feet away before hitting the ground. Dan gasped, his mouth open wide and trying to draw in oxygen. Unfortunately, the attack on his solar plexus had knocked the wind out of him, and his body arched upward, his lungs trying to draw breath but to no avail. His green eyes bugged out in shock, and one hand flew to his neck while the other clawed desperately at the clay flooring, as if that could make him breathe.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Francois saw Amy stand with the intention to run to her brother's side, but was stopped when Fiske held her back. It took Dan's body a few seconds to get over the temporary paralysis, but those few seconds seemed like his eons as his battered body felt the terror of not being able to breathe. As his lungs drew in their first, desperate gulps he winced as the incoming air tore its way down. It took a couple of minutes but soon his lungs had stabilized and painfully, he made his way up

'This is impossible!' he thought, panicked. 'There is no way someone with Janus abilities can have this much stamina and endurance, and he isn't even full-blooded. How can be so strong and durable?!' His body was in no shape to last much longer, and he desperately needed to beat Francois.

'I won't lose to him. I can't lose to him. I've come too far to give up'

Anger suddenly flooded his body, demanding his body to focus. It was accompanied by snippets of the source of his rage: the burden of the Cahill name that made him an orphan early in his life, the Vespers hunting them down and making Amy and him do things they'd never do, and the harsh looks on other Supreme Leaders' faces when they delivered their ruling, even as he begged on his knees to spare him. Rage was now overriding his pain and fatigue, and he stood up straight, glaring maliciously at Francois.

The old man felt a shiver run down his spine. He'd never received such an evil look from one of his relatives. He quickly tensed, preparing himself for whatever the young Cahill was going to do.

'Stop! Don't go rushing in. Analyze your enemy and then attack' Dan said to himself, reciting his lessons from bodyguard training, restraining himself from going berserk. 'There's something I'm not seeing. There's something off about him. C'mon now, THINK!'

Searching for a clue, Dan analyzed his opponents fighting style so far. He knew that the sword skill was ability he got from being a Janus, but he used savate in a way too straight forward and inelegant for someone descended from the branch. There was also the fact that despite he'd gotten in some good hits, Francois was relatively unfazed, and hitting him was like hitting concrete.

'There is no way that strength of his seems human or even Janus. There's just too much force behind it; I feel like I'm a fighting an animal, like a bear or something!' And then Dan's eyes widened 'like a…bear…Oh no!'

Francois was quick to see to look of shock that crossed the Cahill's face.

"I see you've had an epiphany, young Dan" Francois said, with a smirk on his face. "Care to enlighten me to it?"

Still surprised, Dan answered him

"You're just not part Janus aren't you. You're part Tomas as well!"

"Excellent observation" he said, practically grinning "What clued you in to my heritage?"

"If you were of Janus descent then you would've been showier with your moves instead of going head on. But the straw that broke the camel's back was that inhuman strength of yours. Only those from the Tomas Branch can have this much raw power."

"You have certainly hit the nail on the head. My Janus mother was a fencer descended from Janus swordsmen who settled in Quebec. My father was a savateur from France, who fled to Canada to join the Madrigal cause of peace. It was during one of his mission in Quebec, where he met my mother and convinced her to join the Madrigal cause. They fell in love and started a family, and taught me each of their techniques. I combined my maternal penchant for swordplay with my paternal talent of raw power and stamina, to mold myself into the ultimate fighter. "

'This is bad! This is really bad!' Dan panicked. 'He's basically told me that he's undefeatable. His Tomas stamina is compensating for his Janus' lack of it. And his Janus blood is amplifying his martial art skills and focusing the Tomas' ridiculous strength and power!'

Taking a deep breath, Dan examined his body once more. The long minutes of testing had reduced his shirt into tatters. Annoyed, the pulled of his shirts out and tossed it away, and ran this hand up and down his body. For once, Dan was glad that Amy forced him to put in extra hours into training. His lean, muscled body had withstood the abuse that Francois had inflicted on his body.

'My body's beginning to shut down' he realized, feeling his abdominal muscles tremble and throb in protest to his touch. ' I probably have enough energy to pull off at least two finishers, maybe three. That means'- he forced his body into a forward stance- 'I have to make each second count.'

His decision made, Dan lunged himself into a sprint, aiming for Francois' body. The old man responded by sending a high kick his way.

'You fell for it!' thought Dan as he quickly dropped to his knees and slid harmlessly underneath the leg. Not wasting a beat, Francois dropped his leg, and send back kick. Dan had anticipated something like this, and rolled out of the way. Using his present momentum, he sent a heel thrust to the leg Francois was balancing on. Losing is balance, Francois fell back, his arms wheeling out of control. Dan thrust himself upwards smashing his back into the old man's, stunning him. Not wasting a moment, Dan grabbed one of old man's large arms, and threw Francois over his shoulder and into the floor. The satisfying sound of cracked clay resounded through the room on impact. Still holding the arm in a lock, Dan looked down at the old man. His eyes were closed in pain, and his jaw sharply set in a cringe. Then his expression and his arm went limp. Dan's pupils dilated in horror, and his hold and posture loosened.

'No! Did I…kill him? Please, no'

Suddenly, Francois arm pulled him down, and his knee smashed into Dan's ribs. He dropped on his back, his body seizing in pain. He hastily rolled away, his neurons screaming, but managed to successfully distance himself from the monstrous man. He tried to lift himself up, but his arms and knees buckled, bringing him to the ground.

'Come on, GET UP!' his mind yelled at his body, but to no avail. He angled his head up to see his examiner stand up, albeit rather slowly and slip into a firm stance. The once nonchalant look on his face had twisted into something more serious and determined. Seemingly making up his mind, Francois took a step forward to rush at Dan, only to have himself fall to his knees. One of his large arms quickly reached to grab his back and he let out a hiss and grit his teeth in pain.

'What in the world just happened?' Dan thought, as he watched, amazed at what he was seeing. He looked drastically different now than before Dan had thrown him into the ground. He was taking large, heaving breaths Francois stood up but his stance looked more for support his frame than a precursor for an attack.

'After all it took was a hit to his back to wear him out? Then why didn't my other hits…wait a minute! I smashed into his spine as well didn't I? Which means…I know what his weakness is!'

However, his elation at finding the solution was quickly drowned by the waves of pain that rushed through his body. It was what he'd feared the most, his body was fatigued. The trembling had gone away and all that was left was deep seated numbness in his body. He tried to lift himself up, but it felt like he had an African elephant sitting on top of him; and the cold sweat on his body now felt freezing cold.

Dan looked up, and saw Francois waiting on him, with a slightly pained expression on his face. He looked like he could've fallen if there was a slight breeze in the room. He felt the strange urge to burst out hysterically in laughter at the situation he was in.

'It's always like this with me isn't it? So close, yet so far away.'

A resigned frustration burrowed itself into his mind. He wanted to give up, and not quietly either. Dan wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all-no, not scream, but throw the biggest tantrum he'd ever thrown; and he didn't care if he was supposed to be seventeen-going-on-eighteen years old. He was through with all of this…this existence. In fact that most of his life had been a roller coaster ride through the seven levels of hell. He'd held his nose against grindstone for four freaking years his huge mistake and every time he thought he'd climbed one mountain in his path, lo and behold, there was a larger one right in front of him.

'Why am I even doing this. All of this just to keep myself alive?' he wondered. But Dan already knew that wasn't answer. No, this was more than just surviving so he could see another day. He was doing it so that Amy, Fiske and Nellie-heck even Saladin wouldn't have to worry about watching his back. He was doing it so he could watch their backs. He was putting himself through this so he could stand on his own two feet and carry the burden that came with the Cahill name. Especially now, since the Armageddon between the Vespers and the Cahills seemed to draw near over the years, and Dan knew it would happened very soon. When it came to it, he would make sure that the next time the Vesper name was heard by the new generation of Cahills, they would be deeply embedded in the pages of their bloody history. At this thought, a small but firm determination seeped its way to his bones.

'I have to pass this inspection…and I will! Now, STAND UP!'

Pushing his palms on the clay floor, Dan tediously lifted himself to his knees. Francois was still standing, although the pain coursing through his body was wearing thin his patience.

'I can't go for a direct attack, my body doesn't-Woah!'

Dan began to fall forward, but quickly steadied himself by placing his hands on the ground. His left hand fell on the tattered shirt he'd taken off before. The young Madrigal's eyes widened, and in a few seconds his mind quickly formulated a strategy to defeat his inspector. He took a couple of deep breaths, and pushed his protesting body to its feet. A vertigo-like effect hit him and he swayed on his feet for a few seconds before finding his center. Francois watched Dan, and seeing look on his face, relaxed a bit, even as a bolt of pain pierced his back.

'I've seen that look in a lot of opponents before. Looks like he's going in for a last ditch effort'

The old Madrigal's assumption was proven correct as Dan stood, not in a stance, with his legs set apart, but with both of them touching. He watched as Dan took the rag that was once his black shirt and wiped the sweat from his face and hair and putting his hands behind him, probably tossing away the shirt.

'He isn't even in any battle stance. I'm probably just going to see a wild charge of sorts. Such as shame though, I really wanted to see him pass the most, but it seems like he's almost given up. At least I won't have to put up with this pain any longer.'

Francois watched as Dan took a deep breath, and then sprinted towards him, eking out every bit of energy he could from his battered body. The Madrigal stood his ground, waiting for the young blond to make the first move. As soon as he was within three feet, Dan jumped as high as he could, spinning on his axis. Francois looked upward, and saw an elbow strike coming down at him, and he quickly put his thick arm up as a shield. Dan smirked.

'It's all over now'

Dan quickly reached behind him and pulled out his tattered black shirt. Breaking out of his spin, he quickly opened the hem and pulled cloth down Francois's head. Still in midair, he pushed himself over and landed painfully on his feet behind his proctor to catch his breath. Francois's mind quickly flew into panic mode as he blindly pawed at the fabric, trying to take it off. However in his current frame of mind, he ended up tangling the cloth even more than it was in the first place. He had already lost.

With the few, but precious, seconds he'd bought, Dan pushed his body for one final hurrah. Jumping back he stuck his elbow into the middle of Francois back, smashing the force of his entire body weight onto it. The hit stunned the old man's frenzied attempts at taking the cloth off. Dan, spinning on one leg, aimed a high kick to the left shoulder, which spun the old man into facing him.

'Time to end this'

Dan, running in front of the Madrigal and placing his palms on his shoulders, jumped. He pushed down on the Francois's shoulders in order to reach the optimum height to pull of his finisher. What followed next happened hardly in three seconds. Bringing his lower body in, Dan shot it towards the old man's face, wrapping his ankles around his thick neck. Then bending upper body towards the floor he landed on his hands. In a last burst of adrenaline, he pushed against his hands. Francois let out a panicked grunt as he felt, Dan's ankles tighten around his neck and lift him into the air. His body arced gracefully across the height only to be abruptly smashed into the ground. Dan quickly landed on his chest and pinned Francois's hands using his knees. Removing the near-torn black fabric from this face, he pressed his palm onto the old man's neck, and glared at him with eyes of hardened jade.

"You *huff* make one *huff* false move…" he coldly stated, despite his raspy breaths.

The visage of pain was more than evident on Francois's aged and weathered face, but he managed to inhale deep before delivering his judgment.

"You pass" he spat out in a deep, pain-laced voice. "Excellent job, Master Cahill. Tell me-uhh!-how did…you figure out the…way to defeat me?"

Dan just stared at him, his body audibly gulping air down to his tired lungs.

"It"-deep inhale "…was all there" Exhale. "When you fought you" *rasp* "- hand-to-hand, and… I kicked you on your bac-" he winced momentarily as pain tore a sharp path up his back and settled on his shoulders "-,your back, you suddenly lost your ability….to fight effectively". *Inhale*. "That's when I knew." *Exhale*."You might be a Tomas, but you're still an old man. Your bones-arrghh!...can't support your….high range Tomas abilities for too long, can they?"

The widening of Francois' pupils was all the confirmation he needed; Dan smirked.

"You use Tomas abilities to compensate -" *hiss* "…to compensate by forcing your muscles to movie your bones to the way you want them. But since...the back or your spine has the thinnest layer of muscle-agggh…it-it is the most susceptible to attacks, whereas, your other muscles …perfectly protect your other bones"

Dan finished his analysis with a pained, but satisfied smile. Francois stared at him

"You have joined…the ranks of those very few…that have defeated me in straight combat. Consider it…an accomplishment highly deserved"

Dan replied with a stiff nod and got up, only to collapse as his body finally gave out. Thankfully for him, Amy, who had walked up to congratulate him, caught her not-so-little brother as he fell. Amy heard the angry hiss Dan let out as his body's fall was abruptly broken. Standing him up, Amy threw her brother an apologetic smile

'Really sorry about that' she said, initiating a silent conversation with him

Dan was too tired to decipher her mental message

"Whatever, Ames! Just be careful, my body feels like it might fall apart like pulled pork"

Amy rolled her eyes at him. She then took one of his arms and placed it over her shoulder, and started walking her limping sibling the bench at the end of the arena. She had to suppress the urge to shudder: Dan's body was cold to the touch and covered in goosebumps and chilled sweat. She could practically feel the muscles of his arm thrumming from fatigue and her touch.

"Well he certainly gave you a run for your money" she quipped to Dan

"Don't even get me started. I just want a nice shower-you know what, make that a bath soak- and a large hot meal and my soft plush bed"

"Just be glad you're a head taller than me; that way your lovely arm can comfortably sweat while sitting on my shoulders. If you were shorter, well, your arm would be in a lot of pain."

Dan smiled reflexively. He could always count on Amy to make his day better. So he gave in to the flow of the conversation

'This lovely sweaty arm is brought to you, free-of-charge, by puberty! Puberty: Nature's last laugh at humanity! ' replied back with a tired smirk resting on his lips.

Amy just sighed, suppressing the urge to just let her brother drop to the floor.

"You really haven't grown up have you?"

'I'm a seventeen year old guy, Amy. The hormones are still raging"

Amy let out a small chuckle. Reaching the bench on the other side of the arena, she gently lowered him down to sit. Making sure, he didn't fall back, he reached underneath the bench and pulled out a cold bottle of water and handed it to him. Dan accepted it with a barely audible 'thanks' and began to greedily gulp down the contents.

"I'll go set up a hot water bath for you, okay? Then while you're soaking, I'll go see if I can't whip up something from the stuff Nellie left us."

Dan gave her curt nod and watched her to the small screen on the wall near the arena's entrance. Placing her palm flat on the black screen, she spoke to it.

"Amy Cahill"

There was a subtle background whir and a ping as the screen turned white. And then two thin, blue rods of light materialized on left and top side of the screen. With a whir, the each beam scanned her palm as they made way to their respective opposite sides. A female robotic voice spoke:

"Voice Recognition and Palm Scan accepted: Amy Hope Cahill"

The screen flashed and a three-dimensional and rotating blueprint of the mansion appeared. Amy put her finger on the spot where Dan's room was located; the rotation stopped and enlarged into a bird's eye view of his spacious room. Pressing on his bathroom, the screen enlarged once more. A bunch of buttons popped up on screen; she pressed 'Fill Tub' followed by 'Warm'. A large green check mark flashed once, indicating that her request had been carried out.

Amy ran back to Dan, and supporting him again, walked him outside the arena and then into the elevator. Pressing a button, the doors closed and the elevator rapidly accelerated up the ground level of the mansion. The elevator door opened and revealed the bare insides of a spare closet. The two siblings stepped out and Amy made sure the elevator was automatically hidden by a false door, the same color and texture as the drywall of the closet. The door opened towards the scenic architecture of the large mansion.

"Think you can make it up?" Amy asked.

"I will. Now, please, fix me up something awesome to eat" he pleaded with her.

Amy smiled and turned right, walking towards the kitchen. Dan limped his way to the opposite direction. As he walked towards the stairs, Dan took in the chilled air of Grace's Mansion 2.0. Even after living here for a couple of years, the warmth and the grandeur of the rich cream-painted walls with engraved cherry wood accents still overwhelmed him. Of course, this was only the foundation at which it was decorated; each room was a world of its own, containing architectural styles from Italy, Egypt, Japan and numerous other countries. It was further bedecked with furniture from around the world, most of them rare and priceless, but sturdy antiques. All of this reflected back on the original owner of this dwelling. It was as if the mansion was actually alive, an extension of his late grandmother. Dan smiled as he thought of his tough-as-nails, but doting Grace. Amy and he often wondered, and found slight humor in the fact that the old bird was able to survive the Cahill life and its burdens well into her golden years, only to lose herself to cancer. Dan thought Grace's life paralleled to the true story he'd heard about a man who survived a drop from the Niagara Falls in a barrel, only to die much later by slipping on an orange peel

'…Or was it a banana peel? Huh, sounds like he was one of the Tomas'

The sight of the door to his room filled him with a sense of relief. Opening his door, he slowly trudged past his spacious and extravagant room, and headed to his bathroom. He looked longingly at the large hot tub full of warm water. Dan stripped himself of his remaining clothes, and then dipped a toe in to test the heat.

'Perfect, not too hot and not too cold'

Stepping in tub, he grabbed the brass handles on either side and slowly lowered himself into the warm liquid. He grit his teeth and let out a hiss as the warmth gave his numb and cold nerves a rude awakening. Dan absolutely loved the fact that he was floating slightly above the bottom of the tub: he wasn't sure if he could even sit on his butt without hurting himself. He let the water work its magic on his body for a few seconds, before looking at the small medical cabinet behind his head. Opening it, he took out a small white cardboard box and placed on the smooth marble edge of the tub. It was the standard recovery kit for Cahill agents.

'So I finally got around having to use this, huh?'

Opening it he found four neatly labeled plastic bottles, each containing a different colored solution. There was teal solution that read 'Eucalyptus', a clear one that read 'Peppermint', yellow that read 'Balsam' and green that read 'Devil's Claw'. Something caught his eye as soon as he removed the four bottles, something that clearly didn't belong: it was a folded piece of note paper. Taking it out, he unfolded and read.

_Hey Dan,_

_Use these solutions only when you have EXTREME muscle injuries AND/OR fatigue; they are VERY CONCENTRATED!Put (IN ORDER) FIVE (5) drops of Eucalyptus, THREE (3) drops of Balsam, SIX (6) drops of Peppermint, and FOUR (4) drops of Devil's Claw for every TWO (2) GALLONS of water. Depending on how much water you use, there should be some faint teal tinting. Soak in solution TWICE A DAY every FOUR (4) DAYS for 30-40 MINUTES. If soreness is still present afterwards, soak ONCE every OTHER day for 15-20 MINUTES until the soreness is manageable. Hope this helps. Contact either one of us for re-fills. _

_Signed, Reagan Holt and Ted Starling (B.M., M.D., Ph.D) _

_P.S. – Ted is SO LAME! I can't believe he put his credentials on here. It's like he's asking his nerdy self to get beaten up_

_P.S.S- Reagan, I'm 22 years old and I have a Ph.D, your argument in invalid._

Dan's tired lips quirked slightly at the antics of his two relatives. Before he could think more that topic, his body twitched, reminding him to take care of its needs. Following Ted's and Reagan instructions, and doing a rough mathematical estimate, Dan was happy to see the water tinted with a slight teal color.

"Ohhhh yeeess. That's more like it" his voice echoed out as he felt the medicinal water tingle his skin. He let out a small chuckle at this new feeling and laid his head onto the headrest, faced the ceiling. He squirmed his way further into the water.

"This is so weird!" he remarked, referring to how the water was ice cold yet burning hot at the same time. Soon the feeling intensified and began boring into his skin, into his muscles, and into his nerves. Dan's body starting twitching as the liquid tore through the pain, caressing his oversensitized nerves, and ironing out his locked muscles. By the twenty minute time limit came around, Dan had half a mind not to get out the magical liquid therapy made by his cousins. But, nonetheless, he got up, drained the water and treated himself a long, warm shower. He felt much better afterwords; the soak had taken a bit of the edge of the fatigue and soreness, and his body was no longer trembling.

Dressing himself in a fresh pair of shorts, he made his way to his room. As soon as he opened the adjoining door, the smell of something heavenly rushed into his nostrils and made his stomach grumble. Looking around his eyes fell on a rather large plate on his desk, filled with two grilled chicken breasts, a heap of steaming mashed potatoes, and a one foot baguette. Next to the plate was tall glass of chilled water. Sitting on his chair, he dug voraciously into his food, shredding the chicken, and then cutting the baguette open, smearing it with heaping layers of the mash and placing the shredded pieces to form a sub sandwich. In less than thirty minutes, Dan was groaning, sated by the meal, even it wasn't Nellie's fresh cooking: Nellie had left the day before for a week long mission, which involved overseeing rookie chefs in some of the Madrigal bases around the world. Her departure meant no Michelin Star quality meals everyday, so their au pair had prepared a week's worth of meals and stored in the fridge and freezer. Even if the food was made by Nellie, it certainly wasn't made today, but Dan was too tired to complain any more. The only person unaffected by her departure was Saladin, who still received his favorite red snapper straight from the fish market.

Getting up from the chair, Dan threw his shirtless self on the bed and looked above at the large skylight. The moon was at its zenith and its silver rays spilled through the glass, illuminating his room. Dan looked at shimmering globe of silver and took a deep breath and slightly stretched himself; his body vehemently protested by sending signals of pain, soreness and fatigue. Dan smiled slightly. The pain and soreness was somewhat manageable now.

'Thanks a bunch Reagan…Ted'

He thought back to the teasing comments they had left about each other. They had come so far from when they were rescued from the Vespers' clutches. His mind turned gears to the past, and he was in no position to protest.

They thought they had won, the Cahills. They had defeated the Vespers and banished them to the shadows. Vesper One, along with Wyoming siblings and some high level Vespers were caught, tried and now served life sentences in some of the world's strictest penitentiaries. The hostages were rescued and it possibly the only time where every single member of the five Branches came together and celebrated. That event was the catalyst for a new chapter in Cahill history. For once the Branches decided that they wanted the elation they felt that week to last the rest of their days. New policies and hierarchies were proposed, and it seemed that everything was finally headed in the right direction. That event was also the catalyst to one of the darkest years the families of the hostages faced. That next year was marked by the pure, raw anguish of ex-hostages.

Dan lived through Nellie traumatizing night terrors and Fiske's sleepless, near-dead nights. Dan and Amy were there in the Starling's place when a desperate and sobbing Ned tried to stop his screaming brother from clawing his eyes out. Dan saw the news report from Wisconsin showing Eisenhower's pained rampage into a local hospital, carrying a pale, motionless Reagan in his arms. He was there when Amy received a distress call from Ian saying Natalie had run away, leaving a note saying not to follow her. Dan was there when Fiske received that heart-dropping call from Harold about Alistair. He was there at the press conference when Jonah announced he was retiring, and then held him with Amy as he broke down in their guest room crying out Phoenix's name.

As these memories began to overwhelm him, Dan threw a sore arm over his face and chocked back a sob. So many lives upturned, fixed now, but no longer whole. In the wake of such memories, his predicament seemed tiny, but it was all there in the big picture.

'I can't give up now. Not until the Vespers are finished'

And he meant to see that to the very end. With that vow resolute, Dan slipped away into dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile...<strong>

"Are you all right?" Fiske asked the burly, weathered-faced man, who was now seated with him on a bench in the arena.

"Oui, mon ami." Francois wheezed out as he gingerly applied an ice pack to his back. He let out a sigh as the chill of the ice began to numb the pain.

"I apologize for that. I never imagined Dan would pull something that reckless" Fiske said, his eyes apologetic.

Francois waved a large at him, irritated.

"Non, non. It is fine, I am part Tomas. My body can handle it, although maybe it is time that I consider retiring from personally giving inspections."

"Then why did you insist that you be the one to test Dan?"

"I did it out of obligation and selfish reasons."

Fiske raised a single silver eyebrow at the mustached Canadian. Francois nodded and wide grin carved into his face as he explained

"When I was first initiated as a Madrigal agent, I was put on a team with Gracie; that was my nickname for your late sister, because my French tongue pronounced her name 'wrong'. It had been a couple years after your chère soeur, Beatrice, cut ties with the Cahill name. I was a boy of hardly fifteen years, and despite Gracie being a few years older, we became fast friends. Oh mon dieu, we had so many adventures. We quickly became one of the best Madrigal teams in this side of the Atlantic, despite the fact we usually caused more damage than good during our missions. In fact, we had a bet going on to see who could get more suspensions from the Madrigal Council; Gracie won, of course"

Francois paused here and let out a hearty, loud laugh. Fiske smiled lightly at this, silently cherishing the story of his late sister.

"And then what happened?"

Francois glanced at him with a sad smile, his blue eyes a little watery. He then looked down at one of his strong, but gnarled hand.

"Time happened, Fiske" he sighed out "Le Pere Temps is a cruel master. We were only together for three years, before our true talents were put to light. Gracie went on to climb up the ladder in the Council, taking on classified missions. I, on the other took on more general field work. Though we hardly saw each other, when we did we always made sure to catch up. And then…you vanished"

Fiske flinched and looked away in shame. Francois stared at him and kept quiet, letting the gravity of the words he said settle on Fiske's shoulders.

"When you left, mon ami…Gracie lost it all. By then she had lost everyone in her life: sa père, sa mere, sa souer, sa frère, sa mari. The only one left was Hope, who needed her most. She had no one to rely on. She came with Hope in tow that same week and stayed with my wife and me. She told us everything. By that week's end Gracie seized to exist and her place stood Grace Cahill, a woman who had come to realize burden of her family name.

"I hardly saw her after that week. Years upon years went by. And then I received notice about Hope and Arthur's death. I took the first flight to Attleboro the same day. She had changed; she was so old and there was so much sorrow in her being, but so much defiance. I was one of the few people to stay after the funeral and so I talked to her. We caught up, made up for lost time. She let me in on what she was doing for the past decades. And then she told me that it the time was coming for the end. When I looked at her, I knew she was plotting something; something vast…something terrible. But I did not try to question or reason with her; for someone who had lost so much in her life, trying to reason with would only backfire. So I left the next day with hope that she knew what she was doing."

Fiske's eyes widened in surprise

"She was planning the Hunt!"

Francois nodded grimly and then continued,

"Yes, she was. It was her last resort, a culmination of her entire life now thrown out to the table. If I had known Gracie was planning that, I would've stopped her that very night. But who knows, perhaps we would still be four Branches spilling blood as we have been for six hundred odd years. Seven years later, I got a call from Gracie herself to come and see her. She was dying you see; what I saw broke my heart. Cancer had ravaged her. And yet in her eyes there was still a lot of strength. She took my hand that day and told me that she didn't have long to live. She spilled to me what she had planned for the last seven years. Frankly, I thought she had lost her mind, but there was nothing I could do. After that she pled with me to watch over and train Amelia and Daniel when they were fully initiated into Madrigal Branch after the Hunt, regardless of the outcome. She practically begged me, Fiske. I was her last hope; she was fully assured that I could prepare them for what was to come afterword"

"The Vespers" Fiske said, gravely.

"Oui. That blasted organization that is the source of our suffering. I couldn't refuse her, so I made the promise. Even though I was old, my Janus-Tomas blood, and long years of training assured that my body would fare well. "

"I see" responded the Madrigal Supreme Leader. He looked ahead wistfully, both in admiration and fear of his late sister's gamble. And then he quickly turned to Francois.

"You said you took on their training for selfish reasons a well"

In response, Francois let out a booming, hearty laugh.

"Well that is because training your nephew and niece brought back some old memories of Gracie and me. Your niece has inherited her eye for detail and research. In fact, when I first met Gracie I was so taken aback by her meticulous eye for small detail, I presumed that she was a Janus! And your nephew has inherited her style of fighting. Reckless and stubborn to the very end; she was never one to back down."

Fiske smiled, locking away this anecdote in the back of his mind for a rainy day. Francois gingerly got up.

"You're not staying?"

"Non, mon ami. It is time that I leave. I have fulfilled my obligation to Gracie, hope she's satisfied, because I am retiring, Ooohhhh, it's going to take me a while to recover from this one"

Francois changed his clothes, and Fiske escorted him out of the mansion to his limo. As Canadian bent to get in, he hesitated. He then stood up and turned around, the moon lighting the conflicted look carved in his face. Fiske stared at his friend, confused.

"Anything wrong, Francois?"

There was something definitely bothering the burly Canadian. He thought back to when the Dan had given him that one look. He had never been unnerved with such feelings deep loathing and rotten hatred. But should he tell Fiske about it or not, that was the question. If he told Fiske, then maybe he could prevent young Dan falling to a place from where he might not return. But, at the same time, the boy was already between a rock and a hard place after his little stunt years back; if he told Fiske, he might burden the young man with more suspicion, this time from his own blood relation. His mind told him that it was just his Janus blood over-exaggerating over something he barely saw. In response to his dilemma, an old memory of Francois's came forward: It was his sainted mother giving him advice before he left for his first mission.

'_È__coute-moi, mon ch__é__ri. One of the many gifts that Jane passed onto us, her children, is depth of perception. When you meet someone, study them with your heart and feelings. A person's true self is hidden in their heart; it is not for the mind to unravel its mysteries, but only your heart's._'

Francois sighed and smiled as warmly as aged face would let him.

"No, it's nothing. Just take care of young Dan. I feel as though he will need you now more than ever"

Fiske nodded, half understanding and half confused. Francois got in and the limo and pulled away from the mansion, driving away into the moonlit night.

**END OF CHAPTER 3**

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><p><strong>AUTHOR NOTES! :D<strong>

**French 101**

**Petit garcon (peh-TEE-gar-SO')**: little boy; used in a derogatory manner by Francois

**Oh mon dieu (Oh-mo'-dew):** Oh my God

**Oui ( 'we):** yes

**Mon ami (mo'n-am-EE)**: my friend; said to a male

**Non (no'):** no

**Chère souer ('scher-'SUR)**: dear sister; Francois uses this with a sarcastic connotation, knowing that Grace and Beatrice didn't get along

**Sa père (sa-'PEAR)**: her father

**Sa mère (sa-'MER):** her mother

**Sa souer (sa-'SUR)**: her sister

**Sa frère (sa-FR'air)**: her brother

**Sa mari (sa-mae-'RI)**: her husband

**Le Père Temps (lu'-'PEAR-tamp)**: Father Time

**Savate (suh-VAT):** also known as French footfighting/kickboxing. It is a French combat sport/fighting style that was created from street fighting techniques in the 19th century. During this time (and in this story line) the Lucians established government in France after overthrowing the Janus monarchy years back. Savate was founded by the Tomas Branch as a counter to Lucian techniques, which specialize in up-close and blank point attacks; It become of the standards of Tomas training because it efficiently put use their monstrous strength into quick jabs and strong kicks all while keeping themselves out of the opponents range. It was often used by Tomas sailors on ships to fight pirates as well. A male practitioner is called a savateur (sa-VAT-'yur) and a female is called a savateuse (sa-VAT-'tyus). A Tomas skilled in savate can fight on par with a Janus martial artist.

**HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE REVIEW OR DROP A MESSAGE AT MY PM. AS ALWAYS CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS WELCOME, ESPECIALLY WITH GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE! THANK YOU ALL!**


	5. Chap 4: My Peace of Mind Away was Swept

**Hello everyone, I'm back with another chapter. I've got some wonderful, positive feedback so keep them COMING! I always like to hear about them. This chapter was originally not supposed to go this way, but one of my friends spent a semester abroad in England and sent me tons of pictures. Those pictures have served as an inspiration for this chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE 39 CLUES; ALL CREDITS GO TO AFFILIATED AUTHORS AND RICK RIORDAN**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER FOUR: My Peace of Mind Away Was Swept<strong>

**TIME: Day of the Cahill Gala**

Ted Starling sat behind his desk filing paperwork for his supervisor, again. As much as he loved his job at the Angel of Mercy Hospital, he hated his supervisor for overloading him with menial paperwork.

'This work belongs to the interns' he thought as he let out a resigned and frustrated sigh. Ted had a hunch that the reason he kept getting the paper work, out of all the other bioengineers in the team was because his supervisor was jealous of him. His supervisor was the top dog of the bioengineering team, most of which were made of men and women in their in their forties and fifties. Ted was the youngest; at twenty three years of age he was a PhD holding and CERTIFIED bioengineer with numerous letters of references from various universities. If that wasn't clear enough the secret dirty looks thrown at him during the department meetings sure drove the point home. That just made Ted smirk on the inside.

'It's their fault they weren't born as an Ekat' he thought, a devious smile making a way across his face. He had certainly hit the ultimate prize in intelligence as far as his work credentials were concerned. It also helped that some of the more powerful members of the hospital were Cahills. The Angel of Mercy Hospital held a special place in his heart. After all this was where he and the other Vespers hostages recovered. Well almost all. Ted didn't want to think of him, the one who didn't survive.

Suddenly, he sat up, alarmed. Someone had walked and was now standing in front his door; and he knew who it was.

"Doors are meant to be knocked at not to be stood in front of, Holt" he said irritatingly.

The sound of the door being kicked open and smashing into the wall confirmed the entrant's identity.

"So we're back to last name basis, Starling? I didn't walk three flights of stairs just so I could waste my break on your attitude"

Ted swiveled his chair to face an irritated seventeen year old Tomas. Wearing a green blouse top, black dress pants and heels, she looked oddly out of place for a medical intern. Hell, she'd even gone and straightened her dirty blonde hair and put it in a ponytail. Ted grinned mischievously.

"So what's got you looking like a girl" he asked, baiting her in.

Reagan's irritation gave way to fury.

"For your information, I AM A GIRL! I have an interview with a university today!"

Ted put his hands up in surrender

"Okay, okay, please don't kill me, I'm a valuable asset to society!"

Reagan rolled her eyes at his response "Yes, yes, we all know Dr. Starling. You don't have to keep reminding us every single day"

"Fine. So what brings you here do my lovely office?" he said, stifling a yawn at the end. This did not escape the teenage girl's notice, who proceeded to scrutinize him.

"Beginning of one shift or the end of one?" she asked, noticing that that the clock at his desk read 9:45 am.

Ted let out the yawn he was holding, and removing his glasses, rubbed his tired eyes.

"Both actually, I'm pulling a double shift today, well since yesterday actually; did that grammatically make sense?"

"Ted! Are you serious?! You're trying to work sixteen hours? What's wrong with you?!"

"Stop yelling, you're giving me a headache. It's not that bad, I get off at one this afternoon. I don't have that long left."

Changing the subject he asked Reagan a question.

"Why are you here again?"

"I bought breakfast" showing him the four small paper bags in her hands "Now take your mandatory break right now; I bet you skipped dinner as well, didn't you?"

"For your information, mother of mine, I did eat dinner last night and I did take a shower and brush my teeth about 3 hours ago in the shower room, if you're going to ask me that too."

"Fine, c'mon, I'm hungry!"

Shaking his head the young doctor got up, locked his room, walked with Reagan to their usual hangout spot, the 6th floor General Physician's Lounge. They sat in the far corner table near the ceiling-to-floor windows. Face propped on his palm, he turned around and looked at the summer sun midway in the sky of East London, with its radiance indicating to denizens of the city the start of a new day. It was small moments like these that Ted cherished, a lesson that being blind had taught him. This didn't escape Reagan's notice either.

It was once said that Ned and Ted, and to a lesser extent, Sinead, were dead ringers for each other; that observation no longer applied. For one thing, Ted wore thick-rimmed glasses that helped with his restored eyesight. And speaking of eyes, unlike his siblings who had sapphire blue eyes, Ted's eyes were icy blue, a side effect of the eye surgery. His skin was sun-kissed and his hair was a reddish auburn and compared to the pasty white and brown-red of his siblings, indicative of an outdoorsman. That's where the physical disparities ended; his personality was a whole another thing. While both brothers shared the annoying sense of humor and instigation, Ted was considerably more laid back and calmer in high pressure situations. He was also more appreciative of the little things people overlooked, such as the sunrise, the morning mist, or the gushing water from Lounge's centerpiece fountain. But in addition to that, there was a darker side to his personality that even Reagan was wary of.

"Reagan, hello? I know my good looks are mesmerizing but you're taking this staring too far" he said, waving his hand in front of her face. Reagan shook her head, startled, and then glared at the offending person across from her.

"Dude, you're lucky that there's peace between the five Branches, or you would be flying out of this window right now"

Ted just smiled and then reached for his breakfast: two small paper bags, each containing a bagel with a heaping serving of jalapeno salsa and Belgian chocolate cream cheese schmear. Reagan's had her usual spinach artichoke and English toffee schmeared bagels. They dug into their breakfast, making small talk, cracking jokes at each other's expense and exchanging work stories.

"Here, I'll get us some coffee. The usual, right?"

Ted nodded in confirmation and she walked away to grab their drinks, heels clanking on the hardwood floor.

'She's not that bad of a person' Ted thought to himself. Despite what irritation she with his frustrating remarks, the Tomas girl was a good friend of his, and he always looked forward to their breakfast and lunch meetings. Besides, she was the only person in this facility who could match him attitude for attitude, which was something of a talent in and of itself. Ted was thoroughly surprised last summer when he had run into Reagan in the hospital cafeteria. He hadn't seen her since the year they spend in the Angel of Mercy's Psychiatry Therapy Ward. All she told him was that she'd gotten an internship with the hospital's Physical Therapy Department and that she was also training for the upcoming B-Class exams that coming winter. Knowing no one else in the facility, a friendship out of necessity was forged between the two of them.

Regan was definitely an interesting person, Ted surmised. She was no-nonsense and had a brutal honesty as per her Tomas bloodline and heritage. But there was more to her than that. Soon after meeting her, rumors surfaced of an intern who'd taken the Physical Therapy Department by a storm. The intern had pointed out minute discrepancies and errors within each therapist's regimen. Needless to say, it took him another visit to Reagan before he made the connection; and upon realizing that, berated himself for not realizing that the words 'amazing' and 'Cahill' were quite synonymous with each other. It made sense that Reagan knew about so much about the human body; she did come from a long line of athletes and personal trainers.

The Head Matron of the department was so taken by her that she presented Reagan to the hospital council who were equally impressed by her knowledge of the human body; so impressed, in fact, that the Director wrote a reference letter on her behalf to the University of Cardyff. It was one of the most recognized schools in physical therapy and although she still had to fill an application, the fact that head honcho wrote a personal referral to the Dean of the school meant a lot for her. Ted imagined her pursuing a career in physical therapy had to do with the vicious blow that she could no longer do ballet. This went along with another thing that he had learned from their friendship; Reagan was very defensive. Any quip about her not being able to do anything was met with a short spat and her doing actually doing it.

'Hmm…that's understandable, really. Of course she'd be like this; who wouldn't be humiliated that they had rel-'

"TED!"

Ted snapped out of his stupor and saw a slightly irritated Reagan waving at him.

"I brought your coffee" she said pointing at the tall coffee cup in front him. Reagan sat down and was taking a slow sip of her coffee. That was another thing they had in common: a penchant for butterscotch coffee. Ted took a long sip, letting the warm coffee settle in his mouth to savor the depth of the flavor.

"Congrats on the Stonecash break-in mission" Reagan said, a small smile on her face.

"Word spreads fast, huh?"

"Yup! Well only a few high-ranking agents know about it so far, they're going to make a general announcement at the gala, which by the way just happens to be tomorrow" she said with a smirk on her face.

It didn't take Ted very long to decipher the meaning behind her smirk.

"Bollocks!" He cursed, something that he'd picked up after living in England for so long " I don't have a date! If Katrina finds out she's going to demand that I go with her!"

Reagan threw her head back and barked out a laugh, causing everyone within the vicinity to stare at her and Ted.

"Reagan what am I going to do?! She's a monster!"

Said monster's name was Katrina Greenwell, who was the daughter of the councilmen. She was descended from a long line of Ekaterinas who settled in England. And ever since day one of Ted's employment, she'd been hanging off his arm like some animal in heat, and had somehow gotten into her head that they were meant to be forever. When amused people brought up the fact that Ted always avoiding her and verbally reprimanded her when she clung to him, she retorted by saying that Ted was just really shy or playing hard to get. What made her an even worse person was the way she haughtily flaunted herself the prettiest and smartest of the Ekats, which was completely the opposite. Honestly it was no wonder that she was the secretly the butt of jokes in the Ekat branch.

"You laughing at my misery is not helping, Holt!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! If it's this much of a big deal, you can tag along as my date"

Ted's ice blue eyes widened at her proposal; to him it was as if she'd rescued him from a cave-in.

"You'd do that for me?" Ted asked, shellshocked.

"Dude, for an Ekat you're pretty dumb; it's fine, really. That's what friends are for"

"You know if we weren't in a very conspicuous, professional and public setting right now, I think I might've hugged you"

"Woah there, Starling. Keeps your hands to yourself" said Reagan, shaking her head.

Ted just grinned at her as if he were a boy at his first Christmas.

"But still thanks, I owe you one. I'll pay for breakfast the entire next week!"

Reagan just shook her head and giggled some more.

"I don't it's that much of an improvement, really. You tagging along means that you'll have to face my dad and the rest of my family"

Suddenly, the Ekat's countenance changed into a cold, bitter smile. In that instant, Reagan regretted what she had said.

"Family, huh? Better yours than mine, any day" he said, a cold edge now in his voice. Reagan didn't know what to say or if she should've said anything at all, but she knew that she pitied him.

'Oh Ted, after all this time, you still hold it against them?' she thought sadly.

"Don't look at me like that, Holt!" he spat out, suddenly facing her, a mask of fury unfurling on his face. " I know exactly what you're thinking."

Reagan was just sat there stunned. Never in her life did she imagine that this dark fury of his would be directed at her. For once in her life, Reagan Holt, had nothing: no witty comeback, no snappy retort…nothing.

"You're thinking about how pitiable it is that I've SEVERED off any connection with my family, aren't you!" he snarled out. "Then tell me Holt, how would you feel if your own flesh and blood betrayed you to the monsters who tortured us during those unbearable weeks? And NOT ONLY THAT, but said person was welcomed back with OPEN ARMS, NO DAMNED QUESTIONS ASKED and then have the AUDACITY to ask for your forgiveness?!"

Reagan just sat there pale-faced and mute, genuinely fearful of the unbridled waves of anger emanating from her relative. Ted sat there glaring at her, his fingers tightly curled into his palms and his jaw clenched. Reagan let out a shuddering breath, and got up to leave. Just as she turned around, something grabbed her wrist. She looked and saw Ted holding her back. He felt bad for yelling at her the instant she got up and felt that an apology was in order.

"L-let me g-go" she quivered out, looking down.

Ted was shocked. Never had he heard the Tomas girl sound so vulnerable and frightened again, like she was four years back. He felt that a black hole had opened up in his stomach.

'What have I done!?' he thought. He wanted to kick himself for losing control. His therapist was right: if he didn't learn to rein in his temper then he ultimately hurt the people around him.

"Reagan, look. It wasn't you fault. I wa-"

Reagan's face snapped forward, her face seething anger.

"You sure as hell made it sound like it was my fault, Ekat!" she hissed out.

"Look, let me exa-"

"I'm NOT interested in ANY explanation! Your actions speak for themselves"

Reagan yanked her hand away from her stunned frie-colleague and walked off, with her heels angrily clacking with every step. Ted was left standing, his mind heavy with guilt.

* * *

><p>Someone had knocked on Natalie door.<p>

'Please let it not be Sophie.' She thought nervously. The blonde girl had been, for lack of a better term, stalking her every movement trying to pry into what had happened with her for the three months they were separated. She given in some, and told her some of what she was going through, but she kept her core feelings to herself and tried to be as vague and dismissive as possible. Thankfully, Jonah had dragged her to Paris with him.

'KNOCK! KNOCK!'

'Well, somebody's impatient!'

Natalie reached for the door and swung it open, ready to give her rude guest a piece of her mind, only to be shocked to see…

"IAN!"

Shock turned to joy as Natalie threw herself at her brother, hugging him hard. For his part, Ian chuckled, and returned her hug with equal fervor and kissed the top of her head.

"It's been a while, sister" he said softly.

Natalie looked at her brother with a perfect, perked eyebrow and pouted

"You say that as though six months was but a while!"

"Duty calls, Natalie, you know that" he said in a mock serious tone. Natalie just rolled her eyes.

"So duty is for more important than spending time with your little sister?" she challenged in mock anger.

"You know what I meant." He said, let out a laugh. "Will my not-so-little sister accept her elder brother's apology?"

He held out his hands to reveal a large bouquet of fresh tiger lilies-her favorite flower- in one and a Prada shopping bag in the other. Natalie smiled, reached for the bouquet and, closing her eyes, delicately sniffed the warm, sweet scent of the lilies. When she struck her friendship with the Janus Sophie, she would be dragged to all sorts of classes that piqued blonde's curiosity, such as flower arranging. And while Natalie had to refrain herself from committing first degree arson in a class full of snooty girls, she came to respect the symbolism behind the craft. It was there she learned the meaning behind several blossoms, with her favorite Tiger Lily symbolizing pride, wealth and the aggressive aspects of femininity. The fact that she was a sucker for flowers was something that few were privy to, and that somehow made it all the more special. Natalie opened her eyes and smirked at Ian

"Fine! Since you got my favorite flowers and shopped at Prada for me, I guess I'll just have to forgive you"

Ian grinned, widely. His sister was quite easy to please, once you knew what she liked.

"Good to know. I'm sure you'll enjoy the selection I've made. You should wear it tonight, and before you say anything, I dropped by the house and let Gerald know to not bring the clothes you ordered."

"Well, brother, since you've always had a taste for women's clothing, I shall take your word for it"

Ian looked offended at her teased suggestion. Natalie just shook her head and patted the spot next to her; Ian obliged.

"You look tired, Ian" She was right. Upon closer inspection she could detect the slight discoloration and bagginess under his eyes.

"Quite an observation; as always you've proven yourself worthy to be an A-Class agent"

"Well, so are you, Ian. Do explain why it took you, the Head of the European Lucians, so long just to do simple negotiation with the other Lucian Heads?"

Ian sighed.

'Impatient as always. Natalie you haven't changed'

"It's harder than you think, honestly. My job was to coordinate all the classified Lucian files on centuries old Vesper activity from all the other Heads to the rest of the branches. Unfortunately, one Mr. Jian was unwilling to cooperate and share files if it meant sharing the four Branches."

Natalie sat straight in admiration

"Mr. Jian, as in Shen Jian?! As in the Head of the Asian Lucians and direct descendant of famed Lucian pirate, Ching Shih?!" she asked, ecstatically.

Ian looked at his sister in disgust. This was worse than when she dragged him to that blasted Dustin Bleiver's –whatever his name was-concert. Even Jonah was better, by comparison.

"I'll let him know he has a fan club. But yes, that Mr. Jian. I knew Lucians were stubborn, but the old man took it to another level."

"No need to be grumpy, Ian; that's so working class. Besides I can understand where he's coming from. He spent most of his life in an age where there were just four Branches trying to annihilate each other. You can't blame him if, suddenly there was a fifth Branch and family peace all in the span of four years."

"I suppose no. But damn him for making my job hard; even after the other Heads and I pressured him, he still wouldn't budge. In the end I had to call Andreas to negotiate. And even then it took a week of negotiations until he agreed."

Natalie was surprised: Shen Jian had certainly won her respect. The fact that someone was able to go toe to toe with her master, the Lucian Supreme Leader, in her Branch's politics was certainly noteworthy.

"But enough about me; more important is the wonderful thing you and the other agents did with the Williams&Stonecash break-in. I'm proud of you!"

"You'd better be proud! I climbed fifty stories and nearly got blown over!"

Ian laughed and patted her head.

'Leave it to Natalie to worry about the petty things in a mission'

But then, Natalie took on a more contemplative look. She turned to him and he saw a nervous edge in her expression.

"Isn't it frightening?"

Ian looked at her questioningly. Natalie sighed and looked in front of her.

"Sophie and I killed scads of those Vesper guards, Ian; there was blood everywhere. The authorities were only called after the virus that made Ted and Ned crashed buildings' network. That happened around nine in the morning, but the morning shift starts two hours earlier. One would think someone would walk into the bloodbath we left and alert the authorities, but that never happened. Ned hacked their camera system early in the morning, and any memory dealing between the hours of our departure until the beginning of the morning shift was deleted…How in the world?"

Words failed Ian. After years of investigating and dealing with Vesper activity, it still surprised him how ruthlessly efficient they were. Draping one arm around his little sister's shoulders, he drew her closer to him and kissed her head.

"I don't know, Natalie. I can only guess that the new Vesper Council is much more powerful and ruthless than the one we faced four years ago."

Those were words of cold comfort, but they were all he could manage. It scared Ian just how close these new Vespers were to their doorstep. The Cahill family was the only thing that stood in the Vesper's way of total world subjugation and domination, and only they could stop it. That's what gave him the motivation and confidence to press on with his job. That and the fact he'd sworn that as long as he had breath in his body, he wouldn't let those accursed Vespers do to his sister what they did before. As he watched Natalie's vulnerable side reveal itself before him, he found himself finding new resolve in the promise he'd made when he took the mantle as the Head of the European Lucians.

"Hey now, Kabras don't get discouraged, remember? And besides, we're stronger too. The five Branches are now one and much stronger than ever before" he said, offering a smile.

Natalie returned the smile and Ian saw spark light in her eyes.

"You're right, brother. We'll defeat them" she said, this time with steely conviction.

"And defeat them, we shall" he then got up. "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to sleep off the jet lag. I'll see you at the gala?"

Natalie nodded and getting up, walked Ian to the door. As he was walking out, Natalie stopped him, remembering something.

"Hey Ian, do you have a date for the gala, by any chance?"

"Supreme Leaders and Heads aren't bringing dates. But no one's supposed to bring a date really. Then there would be too many people."

"Huh?!" said, Natalie looking confused. "But Supreme Leader O'Shea said that we needed one"

"Wait-what? She's the one who told you? Oh then that's fine, she's joking. Despite what you might think of her, Leader O'Shea is famous in the higher-ups for playing matchmaker. There are even rumors going around that Fiske and she have some sort of betting board going on."

Natalie stood there in shock. Of all the Supreme Leaders, Flannery O'Shea was by far the most approachable and friendly, but she'd never thought of her acting in such a…childish way. Her getting along with Ted and Ned all of a sudden made sense.

"That being said, I'd be honored if you'd come with me as my pseudo-date"

Natalie giggled.

"All right, I agree, now go get some sleep"

Ian just nodded and walked away.

* * *

><p>With just fifteen minutes left until the gala started and Natalie was already dressed to impress. Ian had bought her black sweetheart-line dress that ended right above her knee. The dress hugged her figure in all the right spots and was further amplified by the Lucian red fabric wrap around her waist. Her hair was in a bun and clasped with an ornamental hair claw, with her bangs free and the only makeup she had was mascara and lip gloss. Natalie did one more turn in the mirror.<p>

'Simple, yet elegant and classy; Ian, you've outdone yourself, once again'

Satisfied with her appearance, the Lucian grabbed her red clutch that contained her invitation and walked herself to Ian's room down the hall. Knocking on the door, she didn't have to wait long before Ian came out looking like an Aramani tuxedo model. He looked perfect.

'Almost' thought Natalie, as she looked at the few strands of hair that had come free from his coiffed hair. Reaching up, she smoothed the blasted hair back in place.

"You now look perfect" she said with a smile. Ian returned the gesture and held out an arm, which she gladly took.

"Ready, sister?"

"Yes, let's show these people how to make an entrance" she said small smirk on her face. The two walked off to take the elevator to the first floor.

The English Cahill Base was located in the British Museum, one the largest museums in England. It was founded after the death of Sir Hans Sloane, who was a physician, naturalist, and secretly an Ekaterina agent who wanted to make his Branch's presence known in England. Over the following centuries it was juggled between the then-four Branches, until present day where it is Branch neutral. Today this architectural marvel is but a façade for one the largest networks of the Cahill family, consisting of twelve subterranean floors that practically ran as a small, semi-self-sufficient town. It ranged basic amenities such as housing, plumbing, eateries, and study rooms to more complex facilities, such as greenhouses, training arenas, research labs and a command center. It was built in such a way that one could spend a good majority of his or her life underground without ever having to set foot aboveground.

Ian and Natalie stepped out of the elevator to a lighted basement that looked like it belonged in storage. Climbing up the basement steps they opened the doors to a tucked away and discreet corner of a music store. They slipped out and separated, pretending to be browsing through the collection of music albums, blending into the various music addicts looking for a fresh supply of beats. As they neared the entrance they nodded at owner of the store, an old man and secretly a Janus, who winked back at them in return.

The warm London breeze greeted them as walked into the streets. It was already ten-till-nine and the sun had nearly set on the summer night. It was a Friday and the roads were full of cars rushing towards the restaurants and pubs to open the weekend. Ian and Natalie walked over to the next street to the entrance of the British Museum, one of many other Cahills, all well-dressed for the gala. There was the occasional limo that made its way through, parting the crowd, each carrying a Head of the different Cahill Branches. Usually the museum was closed by eight at night, but since Cahill family did own the museum it wasn't a big fuss to 'rent' it out for a couple of hours. As far the public was concerned, the Museum was holding a charity event and saw nothing wrong with it. The Kabras were ushered to a waiting line , one of five, with two guards at tops of stairs leading to the entrance. Each guard held a scanner; one guard would scan the invitation that was given out and the other would scan the eye of each guest. This was done to prove that the entrant was of Cahill blood and was the proper person that received the invitation. The line went by quickly and after passing the scans, Ian and Natalie made their way to the air- conditioned, giant foyer of the museum.

To say it was breathtaking would've been the understatement of the millennia. Spacious and covered in white marble flooring, it was a dome structure with a skylight for the ceiling, with lines of black metal crisscrossing the glass into diamonds. In the center of the foyer was a large cylindrical building-one that took up most of the space of the main area- whose top connected the skylight. The walls were made of the facades of different buildings that were part of the museum, connecting at this very place. Each building held artifacts and exhibits from different regions of the world, many of them with Cahill name attached to it. There were also servers holding up high silver platters of hors d'oeuvres and flutes of champagne and fancy beverages gliding around effortlessly. Ian took a glass of champagne while Natalie, who thought alcohol in such a public setting being beneath her, settled for a flute of sparkling peach juice. They walked around sampling foods and chatting with familiar faces. They had an hour and half to kill before the night actually started out; this was usually marked by the Supreme Leaders making their grand entrance, complete with individual announcements, an ovation, cheering-the whole nine yards.

"NATALIE!"

Natalie let go of Ian's arm and turned around to the two voices that had screamed her name. About a good fifty feet away were a grinning Sophie Watson and smirking Reagan Holt, the former who, upon catching her attention, waved her hand furiously at her.

"Here Ian, I'm going to catch up with those two before Sophie has a coronary"

Ian smirked at his sister and, giving Sophie and Reagan a slight smile, walked off.

Natalie strutted her way to her friends making sure to assert her inborn superiority to those in her way. When she was within arms distance, Sophie pulled her into an excited bear hug, careful not to spill her flute of cranberry juice on her. Reagan, who had far more self-control than her Janus friend, gave the Kabra a light hug. The Lucian stepped back and assessed her friends' ensemble for the night. Sophie, true to her unique fashion sense, had a splatter print halter-neck cocktail dress that contained various shades of greens and blues. Her wavy blonde hair had been straightened and put in a French twist, held in place with an emerald hair comb. The Janus had mascara, faint green eye shadow and magenta lipstick. Reagan had an one-shoulder, shimmery lavender dress with the material bunched up at the waist. It had Greek-style loose sleeves and her dirty blond hair was straightened and brushed into a half ponytail held back by a simple purple hair clip. Reagan had stuck with plain mascara and Chapstick for her makeup. Natalie felt a bit of Reagan dress.

"Is this SILK, Holt?" she asked in mock-horror, even throwing in a dramatic gasp for added effect. "You actually look fashionable!"

Reagan turned slightly red and smacked the female's hand away and glared at her.

"I actually like dressing up sometimes, okay?"

"Finally!" exclaimed a giggling Sophie. "She finally admits it!"

"Shut your face, mutt breath!" whisper-shouted Reagan, now looking around nervously. "If Madison hears this she'll never let me live this down."

Sophie completely ignored the insult that was thrown her way and continued spill the beans on their Tomas friend.

"That's not the only thing, Natalie" she said leaning forward conspiratorially "She even came in with none other than our very own Dr. Ted Starling on her arm."

Natalie's eyes widened and then narrowed playfully at the now red-faced Reagan.

"So you go for older men now, huh Reagan? This just takes naughty girl to a whole another level"

Reagan's jaw dropped at what her friend was implying. It took her a second to gather herself but still couldn't find a rebuttal. Frustrated, she crossed her arms and took to glaring holes at both of them.

"I hate you both"

Natalie and Sophie broke out in laughter. All the other guests surrounding them gave the two odd looks, much to Reagan's embarrassment. Natalie gathered herself and gave her friend a smile, a silent truce.

"You know you didn't have to bring a date. Apparently, Supreme Leader O'Shea was just goofing around"

"Oh, I know that!" said Reagan, now somewhat recovered. "But he didn't. He was freaking on about how Katrina Greenwell was going to attach herself to him like a leech. So I offered to go with him and he accepted. Of course…" the Tomas paused her and grimaced "…he did throw a temper tantrum, but he came by my room later and apologized."

At the mention of said girl, the three of them grimaced. Katrina's antics to get attention and present herself like a capable Cahill were at the very least humorous and, at most, irritating.

"Then why ever go out with him? I thought the Tomas-Ekat rivalry was still going strong?" asked Natalie.

"Yeah, I thought after that little spat he threw at you, you would've kicked him to the curb" followed Sophie.

Reagan smiled rather evilly and jerked a thumb behind her.  
>"And miss out on him meeting my dad? Wouldn't skip it for an all-you-can-eat-buffet, girls"<p>

Natalie and Sophie peered in the direction where she'd pointed. There, far off in the distance, they saw the unmistakable, towering form of one Eisenhower Holt purple with rage with one hand clamped hard on the shoulder of one nervous looking Ted Starling. The latter caught two girls looking at him and mouthed a desperate "help me, please" at them. Sophie and Natalie just smiled and smirked, and toasted their flutes of juice at him.

"Now that is what I call cruel and unusual punishment" said Sophie, marveling at her friend's trickery. She almost felt sorry for Ted…almost.

"It's not so peachy for dad, either. You should've seen his face when Ted and I walked in together. I swear, if there weren't people around, he would've grabbed him and tossed him around like a ragdoll."

"Serves him right for being such an idiot" said Natalie. She turned to her friends and ushered them to her.

"Come on; let's look around and see which Branch has made the most impact in human history. Not that there's any room for arguments: the Lucians wins, of course"

Sophie scoffed at her best friend's statement. Reagan snorted.

"C'mon Reagan, let's knock Miss Queen Bee here down a couple notches"

"Challenge accepted, Natalie"

"Well then, come along. Let's see which Branch is superior"

Natalie led the way to European exhibit upstairs arguing animatedly with her two friends. Suddenly, the lights started to flicker slightly. The girls stopped and started at the lights. Suddenly, the room was enveloped in darkness. It was accompanied by onsets of surprised gasps and hushed murmurs. A few moments later, a deep rumble was heard and the lights flickered back on again, followed by sighs of relief from the Cahill assembly.

"That was weird" said Sophie, looking up the lights.

"Honestly after all the money they put into this base, they can't even prevent a blackout?" snapped Natalie, as she placed her free hand on her heart trying to calm it.

"Natalie is right we shouldn't even have a blackout"

Both the girls turned their eyes to a frowning Reagan. Natalie quirked an eyebrow at her, questioningly.

"The museum itself runs practically off the grid, you see. I live in the Base during my internships, so I know how it works."

"Running off the grid? For a museum of this size that would take a lot" said Sophie

"That's true, but it's done by using a combination of hydroelectric, wind and solar paint coated roofs. They're completely renewable sources of energy, the brainchild of those Ekat scientists. The energy usage also reaches to the Base underground, but even with current Ekat technology they still can't provide the energy needed from the alternative sources. Instead what they did was secretly take the Museum off the grid by making it energy self-sufficient and rerouting the energy from the electrical company to the base, which covers most of the energy demands. The rest is covered by whatever alternative sources the Ekats find. So as far the electric company knows, the Museum is still part of the grid."

"So what's wrong?" Natalie asked.

"That rumble you heard?"-both Natalie and Sophie nodded-"that sound was made from the back-up generators for the Museum. The problem is that since the museum runs off the grid even if we had a blackout in the area we wouldn't lose power. But somehow the backup generators have been activated."

Reagan grabbed Natalie and Sophie hand and starting walking briskly towards the stairs. Sophie and Natalie, sensing their friend's anxiety, followed her. The made it back to the ground floor when Reagan released their hands. She stepped forward through the nonchalant crowd looking for a familiar face. A hand came through and yanked her back. Ted

Reagan nearly breathed out in relief, but the grim look of distress on his face only served to increase her uneasiness.

"Ted what's going on?" asked Natalie clutching to his arm, with Sophie right behind her.

"Follow me"

The three girls followed the Ekaterina to the west side of the building where a café was located. Looking around to see if anyone was watching them-and satisfied there wasn't- he turned to them and spoke.

"We have a problem: blackout."

"Reagan told about the flickering lights and the backup generators activating. What's wrong?" asked Natalie.

"Well that's a small detail in the big picture. Central London has lost complete power."

"What!" Sophie nearly screamed out. She quickly looked over shoulder to see if anyone had heard her near outburst. "How bad is it?"

"Extremely; take a look for yourselves" Ted pulled back his sleeve to reveal his odd looking watch. It was a square screen that took up most of the width of his wrist, looking almost like someone had made watch version of an iTouch. The redhead swiped at the screen a couple times and a holographic satellite picture popped up. It was a bird's-eye view of Central London. Most of the picture was dazzling like a multitude of stars due to the lights of the city except for giant black spot.

"Wait a minute, Ted. Can you zoom in on the epicenter of the blackout? I need to confirm something" asked a nervous Sophie.

"Sure"

Ted swiped at his watch some more. The hologram zoomed in to show to the epicenter of the blackout. Standing out like a lighthouse on a cliff side was…

"The Museum!"

"I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. It seems like we're one of the few building that has power due to backup generators." Sophie whispered out, her throat suddenly dry. There were bells going off in her head.

"Wait, wait" said Natalie. "I'm sure this is just an electric failure by the plant. Sophie, you remember the blackout of '03. Nearly five hundred thousand people lost power, and they got it back on after thirty minutes. This is probably similar to that"

"I wish I shared your sentiment, Natalie. Take a look at this"

Ted swiped at the watch and the hologram zoomed out and now a transparent red circle sat perfectly on the black spot. It fit in the most unsettling way; none of the areas outside circle lost power.

"It almost looks like the Lucian Black Circle" Reagan threw out, squinting at the hologram.

"But not quite," said Natalie. "The Black Cirle doesn't get its name because we cut off power from a circular area, but from the fact that Lucian forces close into our enemy's location from the outside from all sides."

Ted's watch chirped and one the hologram a blue line drew itself from the outermost point to the center of the circle. A blue number flashed reading "12.5"

"It seems everything within 12.5 miles, or 20 kilometers, has gone dark. But to think that the Museum would lose power and the backup generators would kick in. They not only power the museum but also the Base below. Such a scenario is only supposed happen to if we have a level one danger situation on hand, like incoming natural disaster or war attack"

Ted felt unnerved. There were too many strange and alarming variables in place to just pass it off as a random coincidence.

"Well, it won't do any good if we go screaming to the high heavens about what happened. I don't think most of the people know what's really happened, with perhaps the exception of those who live in the Base" Natalie, said looking around noticing the relaxed crowd, turning away to walk. "I'll go find Ian and have him gather the other Heads to see if they can get anything solved. More than likely it's a mistake."

"All right you go and do that" said Ted, unconvinced. He turned and stared at the gated café. He closed his eyes and placing his hands on his temples tried to concentrate.

Sophie reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ted, sweetie, are you okay?"

Still closed eyed, he answered.

"Ekaterinas don't make mistakes, Sophie, especially when comes to energy allocation. If you don't mind, could you give a minute or two to think about it? I need to come up with a cover-up in case the energy company finds that the power allocated to the Museum is being rerouted somewhere else.

Sophie only nodded, and taking an anxious looking Reagan's hand, slowly walked away.

The Starling triplet was having a dilemma. He ran through various complex lies to temporarily cover up the energy routing situation and present it to Mrs. O'Shea when he saw her. No doubt there were others who had noticed the blackout and were doing the same. Frustrated he distanced himself further from the crowd and closer the café, pacing back and forth when he suddenly stopped.

'What was that noise?'

Ted walked in front of the gated café and closing his eyes once more. Years of being blind had exacerbated his sense of hearing as a consequence. He filtered out all the background noise in his head, focusing on the sound he'd thought he heard. A few seconds went by and then he heard it. It was rather faint, but the Ekat concentrated further. It was a line of beeps.

Ted's eyes snapped open and he broke out into an adrenaline-laden sprint away from the café. He was at the outermost layer of the crowd when he saw the two girls. Reaching a now surprised looking Sophie and Reagan, he grabbed each under one arm and threw himself on the floor yelling…

"EVERYBODY! GET DOWN!"

"BBOOOM!"

The Museum was engulfed in a thunderous sound as the small café in the west corner exploded in a shower of metal, stone, wood and dust. Screams soon followed, a good amount of them coming from the people near the explosion who failed to follow Ted's warning and were hit by shrapnel, and crushed by the debris that knocked them down.

Natalie was in the middle of looking for her brother when she heard someone yell "GET DOWN!" immediately followed by the explosion. She turned heel and ran towards the source. She was shocked by what she saw. Where the café once stood was a sizable hole. There were people within ten feet of the explosion radius who were either pinned down by pieces of wood and stone or knocked out by the pieces of debris. It wasn't a big explosive, she deducted, but since it was done in such close range of people there were bound to be several injured. Her mind was racing with thoughts of Sophie, Reagan and Ted who been standing there just a good minute ago. Those who weren't hurt quickly went over to their fallen comrades, helping in rescuing them. Natalie scanned the area in haste looking for any tell-tale signs of her friends among the white blanket dust that settled. A shock of red hair caught her eye.

'TED!'

She ran to him and discovered and he was on top of Reagan and Sophie, obviously shielding them from the blast. Thankfully it didn't look like they were hit or buried by any debris, all due to Ted's quick thinking. Reaching down, she picked him by the arms and dragged him away.

'This is bad, he took the brunt of it out the three' she panicked, looking at the angry gash on his left shoulder, with blood slowly seeping out.

"Ted wake up! WAKE UP!" she yelled at him.

Ted stirred a bit. He scrunched his face, in pain or confusion Natalie couldn't tell. He opened his eyes a bit.

"N..N-Nhatee..dhey-ughhh-day gells…"

"I'm going after them next, so just worry about yourself. You probably have dizziness from the explosive force, but be glad, you're thinking saved your life."

Placing him a good fifty feet away, she sat him down against the wall of the central building of the foyer, making sure not place his gash against it.

"Ted listen to me. You have a gash on your left shoulder. From the looks of it, it's not deep enough to cause continuous bleeding but put some pressure on it. Can you manage?"

Ted nodded, as best as he could. He understood, he wasn't a normal person off the street. He was a Cahill and an Agent at that; he was trained for scenarios such as this.

Somewhat relieved, Natalie ran back for the girls. Sophie and Reagan were stirring too. She reached for Sophie, and pulled up.

"Sophie, SOPHIE, come on WAKE UP!"

Sophie started coughing and wheezing violently, trying to clear her airway of the dust she'd breathed in

"Na-tal-ee?"

"Oh, honey, you'll be fine. Stay with me all right?"

"Uhhh…"

Placing her best friend's arm over her shoulder, Natalie turned to Reagan, who surprisingly was on all fours.

"Nata-lie…what-gasp- what happened"

"Bomb explosion, Ted saved your lives. Now wrap your arm around my shoulder so I can get you guys out of here."

Reagan ignored her and got up herself, albeit unsteadily. Her legs and parts of her body were covered in dust but she seemed fine, other than some scratches and bruises and possible disorientation.

Natalie helped up a groaning Sophie and led her and Reagan away from the blast zone. It was sheer chaos. There were some Cahills who were helping up the injured, who were either unconscious or screaming in pain. Other reached for their cell phones trying to call the authorities, only for their calls to not go through. She quickly reached Ted, who now sitting up, coat thrown away, shirt unbuttoned, undershirt torn out and was now pressing it against his shoulder wound. She sat Sophie on the ground next to him and helped Reagan sit down.

"Listen you guys, I'll be right-

"BOOM!"

Another explosion rocked the place, this time from the left side of the café at the corner of the building where the Egyptian exhibits were. The explosive force threw Natalie on her knees, and Reagan, Ted and Sophie on their back. Natalie felt pieces of stone hit her, with a rather big one clipping her on her shoulder. She placed her hand over her mouth in order to avoid the dust that followed. There were more screams of pain and panic. There were more people knocked out or crushed by the debris. Any able-bodies Cahill quickly rushed to their rescue.

'I need to get them away from here'

"NATALIE!"

She whipped looked up to find a panicked Ian, who dropped to his knees and shook her shoulders.

"IAN! I'm fine, you've got to help me, grab Ted and Reagan!"

Ian did as he was told, taking each arm over his shoulder and walking them away, and Natalie once gaining her balance picked up Sophie and walked further away.

"BOOM!"

There was another explosion, this one from the right of the café with some more people knocked to ground by the explosive force. Natalie was hit by small pieces of stone that hit her back and legs like paintball pellets. She grit her teeth and forced herself to somehow walk faster. Everyone was congregated around the large, circular building in the middle of the main foyer. She saw the injured being taken in there, meaning some quick-thinking person had turned it into some sort of infirmary. It gave Natalie hope; the initial chaos was quickly being replaced by some semblance of rushed order. It did help that most of these people were A and B-Class Agents. More than likely, their high-level training had kicked in. But hope was soon replaced by fear of what had happened. Looking back she saw a long hole, extending from the corner of the west end to the midpoint of the back wall. The hole didn't have much in terms of height, which meant the building wouldn't be crashing on them soon.

And then people dressed in black skin suits emerged from the hole. There could've been anywhere from sixty to a hundred of them. One of the darkly dressed people, a man by the looks of it, stepped out, holding a megaphone to his mouth.

"Hello there Cahills, sorry we're late, but it looks like you guys were having quite _a BLAST!"_

Natalie felt her heart race, but that was nothing compared to the feeling of her blood running cold when she saw a large, stylized, silver "V" emblazoned on the man's chest.

The Vespers were back.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE! (IMPORTANT!)<strong>

Thanks to everyone who reads this story. It brings me joy to know that I have something to share that you guys like to read, even if you don't review. I have a tumblr account that I will be filling with my own drawings of what the characters look like and other tidbits. If you're interested in something like that let me know so I can place a link by the end of every chapter. Thanks, and please review and/or fav/follow, I love hearing about what's good and bad about my style/plot/story! :D (NO FLAMES, Cons. Criticism only!)

**CHAPTER FOUR TRIVIA!**

1) Shen Jian (蜃剑): The Head of the Asian Lucians. If you translate his name to English, Shen ( 蜃 ) is a mythical serpent from Chinese lore and Jian ( 剑 ) is a double-edged sword. So put together his name means "Double-Edged Snake Sword" which is a direct reference to the Lucian crest which has a two-headed snake, resting on a sword. If any of my readers are Chinese linguists point out if I made any mistakes, please and thank you!

2) The Blackout of '03 was actually a real event that took place. 500,000 people lost power and it was one of the worst power blackouts in the history of England

3) Sir Hans Sloane was also a real person. He was well-renowned for being a meticulous collector and the primary reason the British Museum (also real) was founded was to store his cabinet of oddities in a safe place for generations to come.

4) You should check out the pictures of the British Museum, it's beautiful! :D

5) Everything in the Museum is in the exact place it's supposed to be. I went to the Museum's site and checked the floor plans to see where the Vespers could best attack and worked my plot accordingly. Me=Perfectionist! XP


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